On Last Week Tonight, John Oliver gives Fox and CNN the credit they deserve for their bumbling and racist coverage in Baltimore. This is hardly Geraldo Rivera’s most asinine moment during the coverage, but it is significant. Both Rivera and a CNN reporter – at different times, latched onto a random black man, and insisted that they had wealthy mogul Russell Simmons. The wily “Russell Simmons” refused to be interviewed, insisting that he was someone else – but you can’t get anything past two venerable news journalists! By the way, “Simmons” never did ‘fess up..Nor did the two newshounds give up.
In ‘justice’ news, the disparity between police and the community of Baltimore widens when you learn that an 18-year-old who turned himself in for smashing windows – a misdemeanor, received bail of a half million dollars! By contrast, the six police officers who are charged with Freddie Grey’s death – a felony, were released on bail ranging from $250,000 to $300,000…The same neighborhood as the bail set for Robert Durst.
John sums up: “Like Geraldo from Fox and the guy from CNN, the judge can’t look at black people without seeing millionaire Russell Simmons.”