Television veteran Geraldo Rivera says he's quitting Fox News' political combat show "The Five"

NEW YORK — Geraldo Rivera has quit as one of the lonely liberal voices on Fox News' popular political combat show “The Five,” saying Wednesday that “a growing tension that goes beyond editorial differences” made it no longer worth it to him.

The last scheduled appearance on “The Five” for the television veteran, whose 80th birthday is on July 4, is next week.

“It has been a rocky ride but it has also been an exhilarating adventure that spanned quite a few years,” he said in an interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday. “I hope it's not my last adventure.”

Rivera said that it was his choice to leave “The Five,” but that Fox management “didn’t race after me to say, ‘Geraldo, please come back.’” There was no immediate comment from Fox.

Despite airing in the late afternoon instead of prime time, “The Five” has become Fox's most-watched program, with an average of more than 3 million viewers last year. Its conceit is simple — five people, four of them conservative and one liberal — kick around the issues of the day.

Greg Gutfeld, Jesse Watters, Dana Perino and Jeanine Pirro are the regular conservatives. Rivera has rotated as the liberal voice with Jessica Tarlov and Harold Ford Jr., a former congressman from Tennessee.

Rivera said he planned to remain as a “correspondent at large” at Fox, with a contract that expires in January 2025.

He said he'd been suspended a handful of times, most recently in early May. He had tweeted shortly after Fox fired Tucker Carlson on April 24 that he found Carlson's theories about the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection to be “bullshit,” leading Gutfeld to respond via tweet, “You're a class act Geraldo, a real man of the people.” Carlson had downplayed the violence on Jan. 6, calling people who invaded the Capitol “sightseers.”

Rivera and Gutfeld had a handful of particularly contentious exchanges. In late April, Rivera told him “stop pointing at me” when they argued over electric vehicles. He called Gutfeld “an arrogant punk” on the air last year during a fight about abortion.

Rivera would not comment directly about Gutfeld.

“There has been a growing tension that goes beyond editorial differences and personal annoyances and gripes,” he said. “It's not worth it to me.”

Rivera, once a friend of Donald Trump who split with him over the former president's false claims of winning the 2020 election, said that “under no circumstances do I think Donald Trump should be president of the United States again and that's an important message I am committed to bringing to the American people between now and November 2024.”

Although “The Five” and its large viewership would seem a prominent place for him to deliver that message, he said “you can imagine the friction that role by definition” would provoke.

“I'm 80 years old,” he said. “I don't want the friction. ‘The Five’ is too intimate a place and it gets too personal.”

The argument over electric vehicles illustrated the challenge faced the liberal voice on “The Five.” As he talked, onscreen chyrons below him read “Biden pushing pricey electric cars on Americans” and “Americans not buying Biden's EV hype.”

Rivera had a colorful syndicated talk show that aired from 1987 to 1998, and hosted an evening news and interview show at CNBC in the late 1990s. He was brought to Fox shortly by then-chairman Roger Ailes after the September 2001 to be a war correspondent at first and has remained. On Wednesday he expressed some regret, in retrospect, for not leaving the network after the killing of Osama bin Laden in 2011.

He said his relationship with his colleagues on “The Five” is “a reflection of what the country is going through. ... It's not an easy job if you take it as personally as I do.”

Bebe Rexha addresses NYC phone-throwing incident in return to stage

NEW YORK — Pop star Bebe Rexha returned to the stage two days after she was struck in the face by a cellphone, telling a Philadelphia crowd, “I can’t get another bruise.”

Rexha was hospitalized Sunday after an audience member allegedly hurled the phone during her concert at The Rooftop at Pier 17 in New York City.

“Are we going to have a good show tonight? Yes, we f—ing are,” Rexha said Tuesday at the Philadelphia venue The Fillmore, according to a video tweeted by local radio station WIOQ.

“Do we let people slow us down, Philly? No,” she continued as the crowd cheered. “Just no phones on my face tonight. Please, I beg of you.”

Nicolas Malvagna, 27, of Manalapan, New Jersey, was arrested for allegedly throwing the phone Sunday night. His charges include assault and aggravated harassment . He was released Monday and has a court appearance scheduled for next month, officials said.

“I was trying to see if I could hit her with the phone at the end of the show because it would be funny,” Malvagna allegedly told a witness who spoke with police, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office said in a criminal complaint.

The Brooklyn-born Rexha, 33, addressed the incident multiple times ahead of Tuesday’s concert, including with an Instagram photo showing her bruised and bandaged eye and the caption “Im good.”

Hours before the Philadelphia show, Rexha confirmed she would move forward with her Best F’n Night Of My Life tour.

“The Tour must go on!!!” Rexha wrote on Instagram. “Philly next! Which show you coming to?!”

The three-time Grammy nominee, whose real name is Bleta Rexha, is known for songs such as “I’m Good (Blue)” and “Meant to Be.”

Shaquille O’Neal to launch music festival in North Texas

DALLAS — Shaquille O’Neal will show North Texas his DJ Diesel persona on Sept. 16.

O’Neal, the 7-foot-1 NBA legend and sometimes Carrollton resident, is debuting an electronic music festival, Shaq’s Bass All-Stars Festival, in Fort Worth.

The event will feature 14 entertainers across two stages at Panther Island Pavilion. O’Neal curated the lineup, which includes Alison Wonderland, Kai Wachi, Sullivan King, Crankdat, Jantsen, Layz, Emorfik, Hairitage, Leotrix, Charlitz Web, Soltan and Ruvlo b2b Celo.

“I DJ tons of concerts, clubs, and festivals, but taking ownership of my own bass festival is something I am so passionate about,” O’Neal told Billboard. “I just bought a house in Texas, the music scene there is awesome and was the perfect place to launch it.”

Last year, O’Neal bought a 5,269-square-foot home , which was listed for $1,224,900, in a gated community in Carrollton. He has been spotted around Dallas-Fort Worth, sometimes interacting with fans.

Tickets start at $49 and will go on sale to the public at noon Friday. A presale starts at 10 a.m. O’Neal said he wants to keep tickets affordable to make the event inclusive.

“I don’t DJ for the money,” O’Neal said. “I DJ to replace the Game 7 energy that I can’t seem to replicate anywhere else besides at music festivals. “For me, Shaq’s Bass All-Stars festival is about inviting the whole state of Texas out for a good time, and it’s important to me for this to be a community-driven event that all sorts of people can afford.”

The festival, produced by Medium Rare and the Texas-based Disco Donnie Presents , will include a food truck village, games, “activations” and more.

“I am building this festival for all my headbangers out there,” O’Neal said. “I’m bringing together my favorite acts and am excited for this to be a home for bass music fans throughout Texas that we can create a community around.”

Fort Worth is a growing destination for national acts. Last week, Dickies Arena was ranked No. 2 in Billboard’s “Mid-Year 2023 Top 10 Worldwide Boxscore Chart” for venues with a seating capacity of 10,001 to 15,000.

O’Neal told Billboard his event is likely to take place in other cities, too.

“We are excited to bring the concept on the road,” he said.

The festival will run from 4 p.m. to midnight. In April, the Ubbi Dubbi festival at Panther Island bothered Fort Worth residents as far as 10 miles from the venue, who said the noise carried late into the night.

Dozens of Fort Worth residents reported feeling the rumble of bass sounds from electronic dance music in their homes and filed complaints with the Tarrant Regional Water District, which operates Panther Island. The complaints prompted the district to set new hours for concerts at Panther Island. Events will be allowed from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday and 7 a.m. to midnight on Thursday through Saturday. O’Neal’s event will be on a Saturday.

Born in Newark, New Jersey, O’Neal is a graduate of Cole High School in San Antonio. He played for six teams during his 19-year NBA career and won four NBA championships before retiring in 2011.

He continues to have an affinity for Texas.

In just the past year, O’Neal has emerged as a frontman for the Big Chicken restaurant chain, which plans to open locations in North Texas. He’s been spotted at a Babe’s Chicken Dinner House in Carrollton. Carrollton police officers have posed for selfies with him. He’s given away a washing machine to a young family at a Best Buy in Dallas. He’s appeared at a basketball camp in Roanoke. He’s FaceTimed with a blind fan from a Chicken N Pickle in Grand Prairie.

Being a TCU football fan caused him to lose a bet on "NBA on TNT." O’Neal vowed to eat a horned frog if TCU lost to Georgia in the College Football Playoff national championship game. TCU lost 65-7.

O’Neal performed as DJ Diesel for the first time at TomorrowWorld 2015 in Chattahoochee Hills, Georgia. The festival was a spinoff of the Belgian festival Tomorrowland.

In 2018, O’Neal staged his inaugural Fun House festival series around major entertainment and sports events. In February, he fronted the Super Bowl Fun House with guests that included T-Pain, Jamie Foxx, Patrick Mahomes, Adrian Peterson and more.

Shaq’s Bass All-Stars have played at touring events across the U.S. since the banner’s inception. This will be the organization’s first large-scale event.

“I’ve got a big platform, and I love to support up-and-coming acts as well,” O’Neal told Billboard. “Some of these little guys on the lineup are just as good as the headliners, and that’s what Shaq’s Bass All-Stars is all about. … It doesn’t matter who is performing if we are all together having a great time and headbanging.”