Geraldo Rivera says 'toxic relationship' with one Fox News co-host caused his exit

Geraldo Rivera is telling his side of the story when it comes to his Fox News exit last month.

The news correspondent, who joined Fox in 2001, appeared on "The View" Thursday where he recalled having a "toxic relationship" with one of "The Five" co-hosts, which led him to being "fired" from the show. When asked who his toxic relationship was with, he chuckled it off.

"If you fired me from the No. 1 (Fox News) show, then I'm going to quit," Rivera said he told executives. "I thought it was very unfair that in our disputes, he was always favored."

Rivera was part-time panelist on "The Five," representing a liberal point of view in political combat with conservatives Jesse Watters, Bret Baier, Sean Hannity and Jeanine Pirro.

His battles with panelist Greg Gutfeld, who Rivera once called arrogant and an "insulting punk" on air, grew increasingly personal. With "The Five" becoming Fox’s top-rated show, conservative panelists and rising stars Gutfeld and Watters have parlayed it into their own prime-time programs on the network schedule.

"The View" co-host Sunny Hostin asked Rivera Thursday why he wasn't given the opportunity to have his own show, to which he responded, "My ideology does not fit at Fox. They always kind of squeezed me in."

Geraldo Rivera exits Fox News after he says he was 'fired' from 'The Five'

Rivera previously said he was briefly suspended from "The Five" shortly after he profanely criticized some of fired prime-time host Tucker Carlson’s theories.

Addressing his beliefs about Carlson, Rivera told "The View" co-hosts, "I don’t like to be unkind, but what he did, just as I will never vote for Donald Trump, I will never forgive Tucker about Jan. 6."

Previous: TV veteran Geraldo Rivera says he was fired from Fox News' 'The Five,' cites 'growing tension'

The television veteran told The Associated Press last month that he had decided to quit the show because of tensions there.

It was not entirely clear what had changed to make Rivera say, both on the air on June 30 and on Twitter, that he had been fired from the show. Fox said in a statement that "we reached an amicable conclusion with Geraldo over the past few weeks," and a spokeswoman had no further comment.

Contributing: The Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Geraldo Rivera on 'The View': TV veteran on Fox exit, Tucker Carlson