Sunday, March 25, 2012

Geraldo Rivera’s son: I’m ‘ashamed’ of my father’s remarks about Trayvon Martin and his hoodie

Rivera created a firestorm earlier this week when he argued the hoodie the unarmed teen chose to wear when he was killed in Florida was as much to blame for his death as the man that shot him

 Fox News Channel commentator Geraldo Rivera has created a firestorm over his comments about Trayvon Martin.




Richard Drew/AP

Fox News Channel commentator Geraldo Rivera has created a firestorm over his comments about Trayvon Martin.

What do you think about Rivera's comments about Trayvon and his hoodie?

I agree with him. The man has a point.
I disagree. His comments are outrageous.
I'm not sure.

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Facebook photo of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin

Even Geraldo Rivera's son is disappointed in his father's controversial remarks about Trayvon Martin.

"My own son just wrote to say he's ashamed of my position," the Fox News contributor tweeted on Friday.

Rivera created a firestorm earlier this week when he argued the hoodie the unarmed teen chose to wear when he was killed in Florida was as much to blame for his death as the man that shot him.

Despite his own family's harsh criticism, Rivera refused to budge on his position, adding on Twitter "Still I feel parents must do whatever they can to keep their kids safe."

Rivera elaborated on his 32-year-old son's shame to Politico.

"Gabriel broke my heart…He just told me for the first time in his life he's ashamed," he told the political website, adding his son believed he had "gone viral for all the wrong reasons."

Rivera said he wrote Gabriel back and tried to explain his position that "every hoodie should come with a warning like cigarettes, 'caution wearing this could get you killed.'"

Martin, 17, was shot and killed Feb. 26 in Sanford, Fla. He was returning home from a trip to a convenience store when neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman started following the teen, telling police dispatchers that he looked suspicious.

ZIMMERMAN'S DAD:MY SON IS NOT A RACIST

SEE IT: AMAR'E AND LEBRON HONOR TRAYVON IN HOODIE TRIBUTE

Zimmerman claimed he fired in self-defense after Martin jumped him. He has not been charged and has kept out of the public eye since the incident.

Rivera declared on Fox & Friends that he'd bet money that "if didn't have that hoodie on, that nutty neighborhood watch guy wouldn't have responded in that violent and aggressive way."

He added he has previously warned his own children against wandering around the streets wearing hoodies, "particularly a dark-skinned kid like my son Cruz."

He later argued in a post on Fox News Latino, "If you dress like a hoodlum eventually some schmuck is going to take you at your word."

The television personality even took a shot a President Obama, who said Friday the nation needs to do some "soul searching" over the tragic shooting, which has sparked nationwide furor over race and justice. The commander-in-chief said "If I had a son, he'd look like Trayvon."

Rivera tweeted that Obama should also add that he "would never let his son walk around DC in a hoodie."

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/geraldo-rivera-son-ashamed-father-remarks-trayvon-martin-hoodie-article-1.1050268#ixzz1q8LXnQxJ

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