Geraldo Rivera: 'C*cksucking f*ggot' is not an anti-gay slur if you grew up with it

In an appearance on Sean Hannity's Fox News show Thursday night, Geraldo Rivera defended actor Alec Baldwin's use of the epithet "c*cksucking f*ggot" in an angry confrontation with a photographer.

Rivera was agreeing with host Sean Hannity that A&E is making a mistake by suspending "Duck Dynasty" star Phil Robertson for his anti-LGBT and racist statements in an interview with Drew Magarry of GQ magazine.

The people criticizing Robertson, he said, are the same "fundamentalist gay activists" who criticized Baldwin for his insults to the photographer.

Panelist Rachel Sklar noted that Baldwin has "a history of using homophobic slurs" in anger.

Rivera countered that the offensive phrase doesn't count as a slur because such utterances were "commonplace," default insults when Baldwin was younger and growing up.

Watch the video, embedded below via Media Matters: