Geraldo del Rivero

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About

Geraldo del Rivero is the nickname given to the main protagonist of The Witcher role-playing video game series Geralt of Rivia. The nickname references the American tabloid talk show host Geraldo Rivera and gained significant popularity in circlejerk memes in mid-2016 after 2015 sequel The Witcher 3 had been repeatedly brought up in various gaming-related discussions as an example of an outstanding video game. Additionally, the catchphrase Praise Geraldo has been used online to poke fun at the circlejerk.

Origin

On September 18th, 2009, Penny Arcade forum user I Win Swordfights wrote "I thought Geraldo Rivera" in a The Witcher thread, jokingly comparing the name of The Witcher protagonist Geralt of Rivia with the name of the American tabloid talk show host Geraldo Rivera.^[1] On May 28th, 2011, Redditor bill_nydus posted a photoshopped image of Geralt of Rivia with the face of the Geraldo Rivera to /r/gaming subreddit. The post gained 191 upvotes in six months.^[2]

Spread

In the years prior to the release of The Witcher 3, several more posts highlighting the similarity between the names were made by users online.^[3]^[4] On April 5th, 2012, the joke was included into "The Characters You'll Meet In The Witcher 2" article by Game Informer.^[5]

On May 19th, 2015, action role-playing game The Witcher 3 was released by CD Projekt Red. The game received praise both with critics and general audience, winning numerous Game of the Year awards. In the years following the release, the game has often been brought up by users in gaming communities such as /r/gaming as an example of an outstanding game, with CD Projekt Red also often mentioned as an exemplary game developer and publisher.^[6]^[7]^[8]

In the months following the release of the game, the trend was recognized in /r/Gamingcirclejerk subreddit, with memes mocking the abundance of posts and comments praising Witcher 3 and CD Projekt Red being posted in the community.^[9]^[10] In June 2015, multiple Geraldo Rivero jokes were made by 4chan users in The Witcher 3 discussions on /v/ board.^[11]^[12] On July 15th, 2015, an unknown Redditor posted a photoshopped image of Geralt of Rivia with the face of Geraldo Rivera to /r/Gamingcirclejerk subreddit, gaining over 700 upvotes in six months (shown below).^[13]

On April 30th, 2016, an /r/Gamingcirclejerk subreddit moderator enabled an automatic bot response "Praise geraldo del rivero" to any comments containing the word "geraldo".^[14]

In the following years, the character has been referenced to as "Geraldo Rivera" and "Geraldo del Rivero" in /r/Gamingcirclejerk, /r/gaming, /v/ and other gaming-related communities. On May 29th, 2017, Redditor croc322 inquired about the name in /r/OutOfTheLoop subreddit.^[15]

On August 8th, 2018, YouTuber Grandayy included Geraldo Del Rivero as an option in the Twitter poll for his joking competition with Dolan Dark, promoting the further spread of the meme.^[16]