Fox News correspondent-at-large Geraldo Rivera said Monday night that veteran NBC News journalist Tom Brokaw's remarks on immigrants and assimilation over the weekend were "shockingly uninformed."
Brokaw said on “Meet The Press” Sunday that Hispanics “should work harder at assimilation” and that they shouldn’t just be “codified in their communities.” He also said that people have told him they don’t know if they want “brown grandbabies,” although he didn't clarify who told him this.
After facing fierce backlash on social media, the former NBC Nightly News anchor offered an apology on Twitter. "i am sorry, truly sorry, my comments were offensive to many. the great enduring american tradition of diversity is to be celebrated and cherished."
Rivera said on “The Story” that Brokaw “probably did” deserve the backlash since he was “shockingly uninformed,” citing Pew Research that showed Latinos have been assimilating “at a rate that’s faster than any ethnic group” in U.S. history.
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While he expressed that he didn’t believe Brokaw was a racist, Rivera elaborated to Martha MacCallum how his remarks were not accurate.
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“You have to be blind, Martha, not to look in Texas or in Florida or California or indeed in New York, in Chicago, in Orlando not to see a culture that is assimilated, that is blending with the fabric of American society in a way that is very traditional and is accelerated that is pervasiveness of the media,” Rivera said. “And for Tom to make that statement- and I really don’t think that it was made maliciously... it’s the kind of a throwaway statement that offends a lot of people unnecessarily.”
Rivera praised Brokaw as a “sharp” journalist who has “been around the block” and added that he wants to be a “cheerleader” for integration among migrants from around the world.
Fox News' Martha MacCallum contributed to this report.
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