Geraldo Rivera blames hoodie for Trayvon Martin's death

Gerald Rivera has added to the outrage over Trayvon Martin's death. He's blaming the hoodie.

"I am urging the parents of black and Latino youngsters particularly not to let their children go out wearing hoodies. I think the hoodie is as much responsible for Trayvon Martin's death as much as George Zimmerman was," the Fox News host said Friday on Fox and Friends.

Martin, 17, was shot and killed Feb. 26 in Sanford, Fla., by Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer. The teen's death and the lack of arrest have sparked protests and inspired a "Million Hoodie March" Wednesday in New York, with hundreds of protesters, many of them wearing hoodies.

"Trayvon Martin, God bless him, an innocent kid, a wonderful kid, a box of Skittles in his hands. He didn't deserve to die. But I bet you money, if he didn't have that hoodie on, that nutty neighborhood watch guy wouldn't have responded in that violent and aggressive way," Rivera said.

He explained that he tells his son not to wear a hoodie.

"When you see a kid walking down the street, particularly dark-skinned kid like my son Cruz (24) — who I constantly yelled at when he was going out wearing a damn hoodie or those pants around his ankles, 'Take that hood off!'"

He added, "People look at you, and what's the instant identification? What's the instant association? It's those crime-scene surveillance tapes. Every time you see someone stickin' up a 7-Eleven, the kid's wearing a hoodie," Rivera continued. "Every time you see a mugging on a surveillance camera or they get the old lady in the alcove, it's a kid wearing a hoodie. You have to recognize that this whole stylizing yourself as a 'gangsta' … You're gonna be a gangsta wannabe? Well, people are going to perceive you as a menace. That's what happens. It is an instant reflexive action."

Rivera followed up answer many who slammed him on Twitter, saying, "Its sad that I have to be the one reminding minority parents of the risk that comes with being a kid of color in America--channel the rage."

And he noted that there were some on his side: "In the avalanche of criticism how interesting that most minority moms back me because they want their sons to live long and prosper"