Eliot Spitzer is no stranger to being lambasted by the public for an indiscretion or two — and on Monday, July 22, the former governor of New York shelled out a few words of wisdom to fellow tabloid target Geraldo Rivera.
Rivera, 70, caused a stir online after he posted a saucy photo of himself clad in nothing but a towel and rose-colored glasses to his Twitter Sunday. The picture was quietly taken down shortly afterward, but not before several outlets had already captured the bizarre moment.
"The public will not only forgive you but they will say move on, because, and this is where the reservoir of good will comes from, you have been the journalist who focuses on the tough issues, no one agrees with you all the time but I've said before, when it comes back to the issue of care for those who are disabled, for the weakest and poorest and most vulnerable in our society, you did something that is so overwhelmingly important that that reservoir of goodwill carried through," Spitzer said on Rivera's radio show Monday.
Added the politician, who is currently running for New York City comptroller: "I'm in such an odd position commenting on this. We're held to a higher standard … when you're in an elected office it's an even higher office, that's why I resigned and took five years to reflect."
Spitzer made headlines in 2008 after it was revealed that he was a patron of a famous New York prostitution ring. The then-governor of New York then stepped down from office and split with his wife earlier this year.
Fox News contributor Rivera, meanwhile, didn't face quite so dire consequences for his slightly NSFW actions.
"70 is the new 50," he captioned the shot. "[My wife] Erica and family are going to be so pissed…but at my age…"
The journalist was almost immediately inundated with reactions on Twitter, not all of them kind.
"I opened up Geraldo's photo and my neighbor now thinks I have some old man fetish. Thanks," Chrissy Teigen tweeted.
In his defense, Rivera explained on his show, he only tweeted the photo because he didn't think anyone would "take it too seriously" due to his old age.
"There I was 2:30 in the morning," he said, "I'm sitting around, I had a drink, and I had taken that picture on Saturday morning, and I was looking at it and I just said to myself: 'You know what, I gotta tweet this thing.'"
"I look pretty good for a 70-year-old, and I think because I'm so old people will cut me some slack," he continued. "They won't take it too seriously."
