The most basic strategy follows a tried-and-trusted story arc. The classic scandal begins, of course, with the initial disgrace. This is quickly followed by a heartfelt mea culpa, rehab, some good works, a soft-touch interview on daytime TV, the public support of an understanding spouse and the final triumphant comeback with lessons learnt and a new album/movie/cabinet post in the pipeline. And the public plays their part because, while we love to see the rich and famous fall flat on their faces, we also love a good comeback story.
1 Get Out In Front Of The Story - The really good PR person will find out about the scandal just before it breaks, usually through media contacts. And they will do their level best to get their client's retaliation in first and put the most positive spin possible on the story. The classic way to do this is to use one gossip columnist to rubbish the scandal about to be broken by a rival. The story should be along the lines of "My family have been deeply hurt by these totally unfounded claims that I had an affair with our former nanny who, sadly, we had to let go after she became unstable. "And we are now prepared to help her get the professional help she desperately needs." If a celeb can muddy the waters enough, it might just head off a full-blown scandal.
2 Be Ready to Say Sorry -- A Lot - When Ben Dunne flew back from Florida on a grey Sunday morning in 1992, the papers were full of lurid tales of cocaine, call girls and panic attacks. The natural instinct for any person would be to find a deep hole somewhere and crawl into it. But the then Dunnes Stores supremo, possibly with the help of some very good PR advice, decided to invite journalists, one by one, into his home and talk frankly about how he had hurt his family and his friends. The media were shocked to have such open access and the public almost immediately came to see Big Ben as a basically decent man who made a bad mistake. There was no doubting his sincerity (this writer was one of those who interviewed Mr Dunne that morning). But it was also a classic case of the mea culpa defence and a shining example for any future Irish celebs encountering trouble.
3 Concoct an Explanation -- No Matter How Ludicrous -- And Stick To It - When Eddie Murphy was pulled over by the Los Angeles Sherriff's Department on a spring night in 1997, with a transsexual prostitute in his car, he was not -- repeat not -- soliciting kinky sex. No, Eddie (as he explained to the cameras later) was actually just being a good Samaritan. "I'm just being a nice guy," said Eddie as he blinked into the camera lights. "I was being a good Samaritan. It's not the first hooker I've helped out. I've seen hookers on corners and I'll pull over and they'll go: 'Oh you're Eddie Murphy, oh my God,' and I'll empty my wallet out to help.' Did anybody believe him? Well, Eddie did have plausible deniability and has gone on to make a string of successful family comedies for Disney. After all, if Bill Clinton could look us in the eye and state: "I did not have sexual relations with that woman", then it's possible we'll believe anything.
4 Keep Smiling - Inside, Victoria Beckham must have been harbouring bloody thoughts about a particularly sensitive part of David's body and an electric hedge trimmer. But when the Rebecca Loos story broke in 2004, the Posh'n'Becks PR machine swung into action and the couple were soon pictured cavorting on the ski slopes of Courchevel. Funnily enough, the "We've Never Been Happier" snaps were taken by Posh's favourite paparazzo, who just happened to be driving past their secluded chalet. And while the Beckhams did make lots of noise about suing Ms Loos and various newspapers, their lawyers never did get around to issuing writs. Still, at least Brand Beckham has survived and prospered (which is more than we can say about Posh's singing career).
5 Do Good Works - We're not suggesting Jonathan Ross should spend the next five years running an orphanage in Bangladesh. But we can expect to see the suspended BBC chat-show host appearing -- in a low- key way -- at a lot of charity events over the coming months; walking the red carpet and looking relaxed, confident and in no way desperate to get back on TV. Former British cabinet minister John Profumo was involved in the affair that, for many, heralded the start of the Swinging Sixties and the end of the stuffy empire and the deference that kept the sins of the rich and powerful out of the daily papers. Profumo was genuinely horrified at the scandal he had caused and, shortly after leaving office, he volunteered to clean toilets at a shelter for the homeless in the East End of London. Profumo worked for the charity for the rest of his life and ended up raising huge sums of money for worthy causes. "He had to be persuaded to lay down his mop and lend a hand running the place," said one colleague after his death in 2006.
6 Brazen It Out - Also known as the George Michael Defence. If you are caught soliciting a cop in a public toilet, make a song and a video about it and get the public to love you even more. After all, if you are going to go down, you might as well go down singing and dancing to a catchy tune.
7 The number of transgressions matters - A single misdeed can be explained away, especially when the person responsible has built up years of good will. Amber Heard accused Johnny Depp of physical abuse, but his previous partners haven’t reported the same treatment, so some fans have rationalized that she made it all up. Despite troubling photos of her bruised face, Depp doesn’t seem to have lost any jobs. Compare that to Cosby. It was no secret that Cosby had been accused of sexual assault in the past, but who wanted to believe that Dr. Huxtable was a predator? So the news media and the public chalked up one or two accusers to aberrations. But when 60 women stepped forward with strikingly similar stories, it became much harder to ignore. Regardless of what happens with Cosby’s legal woes, his career is over.
8 The justice system doesn’t dictate public sentiment - Long before he was famous, Nate Parker was tried for rape in 1999 and found not guilty. But that wasn’t enough to stop the backlash when allegations against him resurfaced earlier this year, casting a major cloud over the opening of his “Birth of a Nation.” Until then, he had seemed poised to conquer Hollywood as the latest actor-turned-auteur. Now the prospects for his film, and his future as a filmmaker, are looking less rosy. It turns out that circumstances matter. Parker was an athlete at Penn State at the time he avoided charges — the very place where Jerry Sandusky abused kids with impunity for so many years — which placed the old allegations against him into a troubling narrative. Then there was the bombshell that his accuser committed suicide in 2012. In the end, “Birth of a Nation” bombed at the box office. Now the once-surefire Oscar nominee isn’t looking like such a lock anymore. Meanwhile, Roman Polanski was accused of raping a 13-year-0ld girl in 1977. He pleaded guilty to a lesser charge in exchange for a lighter sentence. But when it seemed like the judge was going to renege on the plea deal, Polanski fled the country. He has been living in France for the most part since then. Polanski has released nearly a dozen movies while in exile. His biggest hit was “The Pianist,” in 2002, a movie that also won him the best director Oscar. He was also nominated for an Academy Award just a few years after the scandal, for “Tess” in 1981. It’s hard to square the public’s reaction to Parker and Polanski — in part because they were at different stages of their careers, and their scandals broke in very different eras. It’s also too soon to know whether or how Parker will weather his storm. But it’s also worth noting that.
9 The celebrity’s public persona plays a role, but not necessarily how you’d think - Celebrities on high horses have a longer way to fall. Parker had some lofty goals with his mission to bring the story of Nat Turner’s 1831 slave uprising to the screen: He wanted his movie to prompt national conversations and heal century-old wounds. A noble and worthy goal for a young actor, no? But once people learned of his past, his quest started to look a little grandiose. It didn’t help that his movie portrayed two rape scenes as a way to justify the motivations of the main character — a little tasteless for someone who had once been accused of the same crime. Whereas Woody Allen — well, didn’t people always think he was a little creepy? He can be tasteless and crass. Does that mean we hold him to a different standard? Possibly. Whether or not you believe the claims of Mia Farrow’s daughter Dylan, who says Allen sexually abused her when she was a child, he still emerged from the scandal of marrying Farrow’s other daughter, Soon-Yi Previn, with his career intact. As he told the Hollywood Reporter, “You can see I worked right through that, undiminished. Made films all through those years and at the same rate I was making them. I’m good that way. I am very disciplined and very monomaniacal and compartmentalized.”
10 Time heals (most) wounds - If there was one person who seemed like he would never be forgiven, it was Mel Gibson, who offended just about everyone at one point or another. First it was the gay community, with homophobic comments during an interview. Then there was his anti-Semitic tirade (“F–ing Jews. … The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world”) after getting pulled over for drunken driving in 2006. (He also called a female officer by a vulgar, sexist nickname.) Then in 2010, he was also caught on tape threatening his estranged wife and spewing racist gibberish. His talent agency dropped him — and so, it seemed, did most of Hollywood. But what do you know: He’s back after serving time in Hollywood’s version of solitary confinement (i.e., taking a role in “The Expendables 3?). This year, he will unveil “Hacksaw Ridge,” his first directorial effort since “Apocalypto” premiered just after his DUI arrest, and it’s getting major Oscar buzz. Perhaps smartly, he stayed behind the camera, letting Andrew Garfield be the face of the military drama. It seems as though Winona Ryder — one of the few women on this list — is forging a similar path to redemption. She took time off after getting caught shoplifting but has slowly re-emerged with buzzy roles in films such as “Black Swan” and, this year, Netflix’s summer hit “Stranger Things.”
11 The type of transgression matters - Clearly, some crimes are more serious than others. Hugh Grant had a dalliance with a prostitute, but did that really hurt anyone? Arguably only his girlfriend at the time, Elizabeth Hurley. One cheeky interview on “The Tonight Show” was more or less enough to absolve him and salvage his career. “I did a bad thing, and there you have it,” he said, while the audience cheered and clapped. That was easy. The same goes for Tom Cruise’s wild-eyed antics and couch-jumping. It wasn’t criminal behavior but it certainly startled people, forever saddling him with the label of loony cultist. Even so, it didn’t slow his box office success. It’s obviously harder to forgive something like sexual assault — at least these days, as Parker’s flailing, failed apology circuit shows us. What does all this mean for Billy Bush? In that leaked video clip, he came off as unctuous and pathetic, but he didn’t break any laws. And the things he said in private with Donald Trump weren’t all that shocking to anyone familiar with Bush’s smug on-air personality. Would anyone miss his obnoxious red carpet interviews if he disappeared? Maybe not, but people who refuse to fade from view are often rewarded. (Just look at Anthony Weiner.) Bush may not be long for the “Today” show. But he’s quite possibly one reality show away from being back in the good graces of an ever-forgiving public.
Pr campaign core story central narrative: Reinvention / Redemption / Ressurection / Freedom / Self reflection / Love / Survival
4 Tips for a PR Comeback:
Disappear for a while: earn a living, enjoy some free time, learn a new hobby. Take time for yourself.
Wait for your moment.
Become a thought leader: Write op-eds, make speeches, get booked on podcasts, etc.
Get a good PR firm to help place your contributor pieces in newspapers/blogs/Medium.
