Willowbrook to the World Stage: Geraldo Rivera’s Scoop That Rocked Lennon

NEW YORK, NY, UNITED STATES, April 22, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The recently released documentary, One to One: John & Yoko, directed by Kevin Macdonald, offers an immersive exploration of John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s transformative period in early 1970s New York City. Central to the film is the couple’s politically charged activism, culminating in their 1972 benefit concert at Madison Square Garden. This concert was directly inspired by journalist Geraldo Rivera’s exposé on the deplorable conditions at Willowbrook State School, highlighting the profound impact of investigative journalism on their advocacy efforts.

Geraldo Rivera’s 1972 investigative report shed light on the neglect and abuse of patients at Willowbrook State School, garnering national attention and earning him a Peabody Award. Deeply moved by Rivera’s findings, Lennon and Ono organized the “One to One” benefit concert to support the institution’s children. This event not only showcased their commitment to social causes but also underscored the influence of Rivera’s journalism in mobilizing celebrity activism for societal change.

About One to One: John & Yoko:
One to One: John & Yoko is a 2024 documentary film co-directed by Kevin Macdonald and Sam Rice-Edwards with Executive Producer Sean Ono Lennon, from Magnolia Pictures. The documentary premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2024 and was followed with showings at the Telluride Film Festival and the Sundance Film Festival.

Documentary Synopsis: On August 30, 1972, in New York City, John Lennon played his only full-length show after leaving The Beatles, the One to One benefit concert at Madison Square Garden, a rollicking, dazzling performance from him and Yoko Ono. Oscar^®-winning filmmaker Kevin Macdonald’s riveting documentary takes that legendary musical event and uses it as the starting point to explore eighteen defining months in the lives of John and Yoko. By 1971 the couple had newly arrived in the United States— living in a tiny apartment in Greenwich Village and watching a huge amount of American television. The film uses a riotous mélange of American TV to conjure the era through what the two would have been seeing on the screen: the Vietnam War, The Price is Right, Nixon, Coca-Cola ads, Cronkite, The Waltons. As they experience a year of love and transformation in the US, John and Yoko begin to change their approach to protest — ultimately leading to the One to One concert, which was inspired by a Geraldo Rivera exposé they watched on TV. Filmed in a meticulously faithful reproduction of the NYC apartment the duo shared, ONE TO ONE: JOHN & YOKO offers a bold new take on a seminal time in the lives of two of history’s most influential artists.

For more information, please visit: www.onetoonefilm.com

About Geraldo Rivera:
One of media’s most enduring broadcasters, Emmy and Peabody Award-winning journalist Geraldo Rivera began his 51-year career as a television reporter at WABC-TV in New York where he presented the historic series exposing the deplorable conditions at the Willowbrook State School for People with Developmental Disabilities for the population then described as mentally challenged.

These powerful reports are credited with ending America’s policy of institutionalizing the developmentally disabled, leading to government investigations, institutions across the nation being eventually shut down and the civilized world adopting small, community-based housing as the alternative. The subsequent sea change in the treatment of the mentally disabled is considered by Geraldo to be his most important life’s work.

The winner of the 2000 Robert F. Kennedy journalism award for his NBC News documentary on "Women in Prison," his third, and the Scripps Howard Foundation national journalism award for "Back to Bedlam," Rivera has received several hundred awards for journalism, and community service including the prestigious George Foster Peabody Award, three national and seven local Emmys, two Columbia-DuPont and two additional Scripps Howard Journalism Awards.

Prior to joining Fox News, Rivera, an attorney, covered the globe for ABC News; hosted a widely viewed series of syndicated specials, including the highest rated in history, “The Mystery of Al Capone’s Vault.” His eponymous talk show ran for eleven successful seasons. He later hosted CNBC's number-one rated show, "Rivera Live," where his critically acclaimed coverage of the O.J. Simpson trial verdicts and the Clinton Impeachment set all-time CNBC ratings records. Geraldo was the Fox News Correspondent-at-Large. A rotating co-host on “The Five,” Geraldo provided regular reports and commentary on FNC's “Fox and Friends,” “Hannity,” and various programs on Fox News and Fox Nation. Geraldo joined the network in 2001 as a war correspondent following the 9/11 attacks on his New York hometown. From 2001 until 2012 Geraldo reported from every hot-spot on earth, including eleven assignments in both Afghanistan and Iraq.

Currently Geraldo River is NewsNation’s Correspondent-at-Large.

For more information, please visit: www.geraldo.com
Y: @TheRealGeraldoRivera | F: GeraldoRivera | X/T: @GeraldoRivera

Norah Lawlor
Lawlor Media Group, Inc.
+1 212-967-6900
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