June 4, 2025 • 18 mins
This week delivered a crash course in reputational damage. From a celebrity divorce to a DOGE(Y) dodge, and newsroom blowback, this episode highlights five real-time PR failures that exposed deeper internal fractures.
Mentioned in this episode:
- Hugh Jackman & Deborra-Lee Furness: When a “conscious uncoupling” narrative veers into betrayal
- Jeff Bezos & Lauren Sánchez: The media quote provided about their pre-wedding press tour. Previous episode for context: (Houston, Gayle King and Crew Have a Problem: Blue Origins PR Free Fall)
- Elon Musk: His pivot away from Trump raises eyebrows.
- Jake Tapper: CNN’s anchor (and one crisis communicator) faces the heat from the release of Original Sin.
- Delta Airlines: A viral in-flight moment that struck the wrong chord.
Want More Behind the Breakdown?
Follow The PR Breakdown with Molly McPherson on Substack for early access to podcast episodes, exclusive member chats, weekly lives, and monthly workshops that go deeper than the mic. It's the insider’s hub for communicators who want strategy with spine—and a little side-eye where it counts.
Follow Molly → @MollyMcPherson
Subscribe to PR Breakdown on Substack → prbreakdown.media
Need a Keynote Speaker? Drawing from real-world PR battles, Molly delivers the same engaging stories and hard-won crisis insights from the podcast to your live audience. Click here to book Molly for your next meeting.
Follow & Connect with Molly:
- https://www.youtube.com/mollymcpherson
- https://www.tiktok.com/@mollybmcpherson
- https://www.instagram.com/molly.mcpherson/
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/mollymcpherson/
© 2025 The PR Breakdown with Molly McPherson
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Molly McPherson (00:00):
Betrayal billionaires and a broadcast
anchor caught between truth andtiming and a lot of angry people
.
So we had a lot of headlineslast week and a lot of
reputations that were on theline, including mine.
Hey there, welcome to the PRBreakdown Podcast.
I'm your host, molly McPherson,and this week I'd like to talk
(00:23):
about a number of PR crises Ispotted last week.
If you follow me online, youknow that I spend more time on
the app Substack On Fridays.
I like to hop on and highlightthe PR fails or face plants of
the week, so I'd like tohighlight a couple of these
fails that I saw from last weekand introduce the segment to you
(00:47):
so you can start looking forthem as well.
The first person who I spokeabout last week is someone who
comes up frequently in my lives.
I'm talking about the verytalented Hugh Jackman.
He's been going through adivorce since 2023 from his wife
, deborah Lee Furness.
(01:07):
When they met years ago, it wasDeborah who was the bigger
celebrity at the time when theirjoint statement first came out
in September 2023, exclusivelyshared with People magazine.
It said, quote we have beenblessed to share almost three
decades together as husband andwife in a wonderful, loving
marriage.
Our journey now is shifting andwe have decided to separate, to
(01:29):
pursue our individual growth.
But what surprised me was thenews I heard this week.
There was news that wasrevealed in January that Hugh
Jackman was spending time withSutton Foster.
They both starred in Music mantogether on Broadway and it was
interesting.
In today's live one of themembers of the community, chris
(01:50):
he, said that a friend of hisworked on the Music man and said
that there was no indicationwhatsoever that there was
anything going on between thesetwo.
Again, this is secondhand,thirdhand information coming
here.
Again, this is second-hand,third-hand information coming
here.
Do with it what you will, butthat tracks to me.
It absolutely tracks theirfriendship.
When we saw images from itseemed a little staged.
(02:12):
There's always photographs.
They're always holding hands,they're always laughing, they're
always having so much funtogether.
So in People magazine it wasupdated May 28th, so this was
last week.
This is the headline Deborah LeeFurness says breakdown of Hugh
(02:35):
Jackman.
Marriage is a profound woundthat cuts deep.
Quote my heart and compassiongoes out to everyone who has
traversed the traumatic journeyof betrayal, hasn't been in
there for two years.
It was on May 23rd that Furnessofficially filed for divorce
and that statement aboutbetrayal, that's harsh.
That doesn't do Hugh Jackmanany favors.
(02:55):
Another line in the statement,quote however, I believe in a
higher power and that God or theuniverse, whatever you relate
to, as your guidance, is alwaysworking for us, end quote.
That's a beautiful line.
I really like that.
That belief, she said, has,quote, helped me navigate the
breakdown of an almostthree-decade marriage.
So it really sounds like nowthis once amicable separation is
(03:17):
not so amicable anymore.
Hugh Jackman is in a bit of apickle right now because this
would be the time that he wouldtypically lean on his buddy,
ryan Reynolds, for some plannedpaparazzi shots where the two of
them would be together.
They'd be laughing, they'd bejoking, they'd be appearing
somewhere, they'd be on socialmedia, there would be some
(03:39):
coordinated event that theywould get press around and that
would take a lot of the steamout of something that Deborah
was saying.
But this is not a good look forHugh.
So it is curious to see whathappened in this marriage.
Now, again at this channel.
I do not wish ill will onanyone.
Everyone goes through problems,whether they're celebrities or
(04:03):
they're mere mortals like uswalking around the earth.
We want everyone to be happy.
However, just pay attention towhat Hugh Jackman's going to be
doing in the next couple weeksto deflect from this particular
crisis.
(04:24):
Reasons One they did show up inthe algorithm.
Not that I was going to talkabout them because they tend to
show up in my algorithm, I think, from a generation point of
view, similar ages.
That might be one reason, butit was an email request from a
reporter from a UK magazine abig, high gloss, high end one
who wanted me to provide a quote.
She wanted to interview meabout Jeff Bezos and Lauren
(04:45):
Sanchez.
My somewhat immediate reply wasI'm sorry, I just don't have
time due to work.
What I really wanted to say wasI'm sorry, I just don't want to
take the time to think aboutJeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez.
However, I paused on it for amoment and I thought she's
asking me about the psychologyof Jeff Bezos, and lately in my
(05:07):
work I've really paid attentionto the psychology of people and
why they do the things they do,and I do that in my work, so
naturally it's going to thinkabout it.
I did talk about their BlueOrigin space flight recently,
(05:28):
how I felt about that spaceflight.
I'll include a link in the shownotes to that episode.
But Bezos and his veryphallic-looking spacecraft I
think gives us tremendousinsight into what he thinks as a
male.
But let's just say I don'tthink it's a reach to assume
that Jeff Bezos is always tryingto flaunt more of a manly,
(05:51):
macho, rich guy, tech bro kingof the world-esque type of a
vibe.
He's the world's third richestman.
I see him as someone who is ina constant battle for the top
spot of the world's richest man.
The question that the reporterasked me was this Hi, molly, I
hope you're really well.
I'm writing a piece on the Bezoswedding for this magazine and
(06:14):
would love a couple of lines ofinsight from you to include, if
at all possible.
One thing I'm riveted by istheir visibility.
For years I never knew whatJeff Bezos really looked like,
but they are conducting theirrelationship in such a public
way, and then they talk abouthanging out with the Kardashians
, the red carpet appearances.
I would love to hear yourthoughts on why they are being
so public about their life whenpresumably they could very
(06:34):
easily be entirely discreetabout everything if they wanted
to.
What are they gaining from thepublicity?
What does anyone gain frompublicity?
Okay, I'd like to share withyou the quote that I wrote for
that reporter, because,psychologically, we all know
what's going on with Jeff Bezos,right, we all know.
So here's my quote Relevance isthe new wealth, and headlines
(06:58):
are its currency.
If Jeff Bezos can't be theworld's richest man, he can try
to be the most photographed one.
The relationship with LaurenSanchez is being sold to the
public as romantic, but whatthey're really selling is a
spectacle.
Together, they are trying toco-brand as an A-list power
couple.
Bezos has money to buy almostanything, but not respect.
(07:18):
That has to be earned.
What the public sees is acouple hustling for relevance
capital.
Jeff Bezos he's in his 50s.
So is Lauren Sanchez.
Someone on the live from lastweek said I don't think anyone
wants to see people that ageparade around, and when I first
read that I thought I'm that age, but then she said I'm 58 years
(07:40):
old and I don't want to seeanyone.
So I love that comment, butthat is what they're doing.
They're parading around atLauren Sanchez's Bachelorette.
Kim Kardashian, kris Jenner,katy Perry, eva Longoria these
are four people who I wouldclassify as a pay-for-play type
people.
They get paid to show up places.
(08:01):
So that is Bezos and Sanchez aswe ramp up to their wedding,
which is going to be held inJune in Venice, italy.
My prediction we're going tosee a lot of celebrities there,
but Jeff Bezos, no doubt, isfooting the bill for every
celebrity to show up at theirwedding.
All right, the next person whohad a tough week, elon Musk,
breaking up with the hand thatfed him, that would be President
(08:24):
Donald Trump.
Beautiful bill, he called it abig, beautiful deficit balloon
and he also voiced frustrationthat clean energy incentives
were stripped under the sameadministration he once backed
financially and politically.
Elon Musk has been shunned bythe administration and now he's
(08:48):
feeling it, and certainly theTesla stock prices have felt it
as well.
Now, since he's left this week,prices have felt it as well.
Now, since he's left this week,the stock prices have bumped up
a bit.
This screenshot that I havefrom May 30th it was sitting at
(09:08):
$359, but it was much, muchlower.
It was trending much lowerwhile he was going through a lot
of that bad press.
But from a PR perspective, he'shad a rough go because he put
everything into President Trump.
Electing President Trumpted byDoge was gutted to a point where
(09:38):
they couldn't successfullycollect money because of taxes
during the tax season.
So it was not an effort thatwent well for Elon Musk and he's
still going to struggle from aPR standpoint.
And the next person I want tohighlight was someone I
highlighted last week on thepodcast and that's Jake Tapper.
I mentioned, I read or listenedto his book Original Sin that
(10:01):
he wrote along with Politico'sAlex Thompson though you
wouldn't know that, because JakeTapper is getting all the hits
and he's taking heavy hits andthere was certainly a lot of
backlash towards him for being aworking journalist hyping his
book for CNN, where he works,hyping his book as well.
A lot of people didn't like it.
I have opinions on it.
(10:21):
I took those opinions to socialmedia, which is always
dangerous.
I showed a clip last week fromthe Megyn Kelly podcast.
Jake Tapper appeared on that.
Some people said he was doingthat to attract the right the
conservative right Fair argument, because that is the audience
of Megyn Kelly and he knew thatlikely a lot of Republicans
(10:44):
would want to read that bookbecause it puts Joe Biden in a
horrible light.
But oh, megyn Kelly gutted himon that show.
He definitely had mediatraining.
He definitely was prepared fora lot of the backlash, but I
don't think Jake Tapper wasexpecting so much backlash
because people there are just somany people took so many
(11:04):
different issues with the reasonwhy he wrote the book.
And the reason why I know thisis because I posted a follow-up
social media commentary.
Take on Jake Tapper.
I said, wow, I'm entering myKitty Wampus phase of social
media commentary.
Take on Jake Tapper.
I said, wow, I'm entering myKitty Wampus phase of social
media.
Because I posted a Megyn Kellyclip and everybody came at me
about Jake Tapper.
(11:25):
They were accusing me of beinga sellout to my values.
They accused me of defendingTapper.
They accused me of all sorts ofthings oh, that I was
supporting Trump, and all thesethings.
My takeaway from this is wow,jake Tapper definitely got a lot
of backlash, but the backlashcame from a lot of people on the
(11:45):
extreme radical left becausethey feel that if you're going
to write a book about someone,you should be writing about
Trump and what's going on in theWhite House.
Now, that's fair.
I totally agree.
That's fair.
But I look at things from ajournalistic point of view.
I also look at it from a mediapoint of view and I also look at
it from a realistic point ofview.
(12:06):
Cnn is not considered a newsstation to me anymore.
I'm sorry CNN.
They're an entertainment cablenetwork that happens to tell
news.
I believe that a lot ofjournalists out there not just
believe.
I know for a fact thatjournalists are required to be
relevant, they're required toget clicks, they're required to
(12:28):
be in headlines.
They are getting pressure to beseen in other places, mostly
online.
It helps CNN to have one oftheir anchors have a book out
there and talking about the book.
It helps when reporters have astory and then everybody's
chit-chatting about the storiesDoesn't matter if it's cable
television or local television.
I know this Social mediacurrency is the currency in
(12:52):
journalism nowadays.
Is that a little sad?
Yeah, but there's a mutualbeneficial relationship
happening there as well.
You can still find really goodnews out there, which is great,
and you can find it online.
But you cannot deny that thepressure isn't there.
It is, but even more.
Here's my take on Tapper and thereason why I'm not incredibly
(13:14):
agitated over Tapper.
One, I just get it.
This is the environment thatwe're in.
But two, this is what I said onTikTok.
Take a listen.
But my perspective as someonewho works on the inside of these
crises, the messaging meltdownsthat happen and the ego, the
hubris and the narcissism likewhy these things implode.
(13:36):
That's why the book interestsme.
It's what happened on theinside that interests me.
It would be like going afterWoodward and Bernstein and
saying, yeah, hold them in.
Mitchell, nixon, you guys aregood.
But damn these journalists.
The journalism, media industryhas changed so much.
(13:56):
Nowadays, I think everyjournalist, they're all for
themselves.
Their job is to get as manyclicks and relevance as they
possibly can.
That's the currency.
So Tapper is no different thanme or any other person you know.
On social media, everyone's acontent creator.
So that's just my opinion onthat.
But I totally get it.
The lines of journalism andethics totally get that.
And there's this for all thepeople who are criticizing that
(14:20):
Jake Tapper didn't do a story onTrump.
How can you criticize ajournalist for all the people
criticizing Jake Tapper fordoing a story on Biden?
You then would have tocriticize anyone who does a book
about Trump, because if you'regoing to be thrilled that
someone is going to write a hitpiece on President Trump, then
(14:44):
you have to say the same thingabout Biden.
That's journalism, that's theeconomy of media.
I understand the frustration,but it's the attack and, believe
me, I went through it.
If the taste that I got of it,I can't imagine what Jake Tapper
is going through right now.
His ratings on his program sunkbecause of it.
(15:05):
So that is the reason why I'madding him to my list of PR
fails for the week, because heis getting criticized across the
political spectrum.
He's accused by conservativesof covering Biden, mocked by
media peers for the book'srollout and questioned by
Democrat for his timing andchoices.
All right, everyone.
(15:25):
And now I have one last PR fail.
I happened to notice on Redditpeople talking about a viral
video about Delta Airlines.
So because I fly Deltafrequently, as a matter of fact,
I'm hopping on a flight in twodays, this viral video caught my
eye.
It was a young girl singing asong from Moana on the flight PA
(15:49):
system.
My immediate reaction assomeone who flies all the time I
do not appreciate when flightattendants make jokes and let's
sing happy birthday and let's dothis and whatever.
I don't love it.
I understand it.
I'm all for joy, but flying isjoyless to me.
So to try and make it not somuch is just painful for me.
(16:09):
If I were a flight attendant,if I were a pilot, that's how I
would approach every singleflight.
We don't know everyone's storyon here.
The flight was delayed, atleast according to social media,
by four hours, flying intoOrlando.
So you know there were kids onthat flight as well.
So there was a lot of angst onthat flight and that a flight
attendant would allow an11-year-old to get up and,
(16:31):
instead of me explaining it,take a listen.
A Delta Airlines spokespersontold Newsweek.
Quote we appreciate thecustomer sharing her talents and
apologize to our customers forthe delay in their travels.
End quote have you ever been ina relationship with someone?
They do something wrong andthen they apologize, but they
(16:51):
don't apologize for what theydid wrong?
That's what, exactly what thisquote is.
It is so bad it actually makesme think this is a fake response
.
That's how bad of a responsethis is.
They're trying to be cuteinstead of contrite, which is
what they need to be.
Probably would not have had anofficial statement.
I'll just say that I probablywould have just let it go.
(17:11):
Are you with me on this?
Are you with me?
Anyway, delta, as you heard inmy social media post, delta
Airlines came out with thatstatement.
I was shocked that the onlyplace that I saw that statement
was in Newsweek, but this is aninternal story, so I have to
leave you with one lesson fortalking about all these like
(17:33):
celebrities and people in thenews.
Here's a lesson.
If you work in any organizationand you have anything to do with
communication and this isstraight from my work, I did
this week in my job, I reallydid this Remember this Internal
problems cause external problems.
If you are dealing with anexternal crisis, I guarantee you
(17:53):
you are already dealing with aninternal crisis.
I promise you this.
So for Delta, this is anexternal crisis because it is
viral on social media.
It may not be anymore now thatit's a week later or a couple
days later.
Media it may not be anymore nowthat it's a week later or a
couple days later.
But internally, I know thereare a ton of flight attendants
(18:16):
who are dying to know who theflight attendants were on that
flight.
I know it and people weretrying to figure it out at the
time of this recording.
There's already a memo in theinbox of Delta employees, or at
least Delta flight crew.
It's just my prediction.
All right, everyone.
That's all for this week on thePR Breakdown.
Thanks so much for listening.
As I said from the beginning,come on over to Substack.
Check me out there.
(18:36):
The community is fantastic.
That's where I do extendedcommentary that you usually hear
on the podcast each week.
All right, everyone have agreat week.
Bye for now.
Betrayal billionaires and a broadcast
anchor caught between truth andtiming and a lot of angry people
.
So we had a lot of headlineslast week and a lot of
reputations that were on theline, including mine.
Hey there, welcome to the PRBreakdown Podcast.
I'm your host, molly McPherson,and this week I'd like to talk
(00:23):
about a number of PR crises Ispotted last week.
If you follow me online, youknow that I spend more time on
the app Substack On Fridays.
I like to hop on and highlightthe PR fails or face plants of
the week, so I'd like tohighlight a couple of these
fails that I saw from last weekand introduce the segment to you
(00:47):
so you can start looking forthem as well.
The first person who I spokeabout last week is someone who
comes up frequently in my lives.
I'm talking about the verytalented Hugh Jackman.
He's been going through adivorce since 2023 from his wife
, deborah Lee Furness.
(01:07):
When they met years ago, it wasDeborah who was the bigger
celebrity at the time when theirjoint statement first came out
in September 2023, exclusivelyshared with People magazine.
It said, quote we have beenblessed to share almost three
decades together as husband andwife in a wonderful, loving
marriage.
Our journey now is shifting andwe have decided to separate, to
(01:29):
pursue our individual growth.
But what surprised me was thenews I heard this week.
There was news that wasrevealed in January that Hugh
Jackman was spending time withSutton Foster.
They both starred in Music mantogether on Broadway and it was
interesting.
In today's live one of themembers of the community, chris
(01:50):
he, said that a friend of hisworked on the Music man and said
that there was no indicationwhatsoever that there was
anything going on between thesetwo.
Again, this is secondhand,thirdhand information coming
here.
Again, this is second-hand,third-hand information coming
here.
Do with it what you will, butthat tracks to me.
It absolutely tracks theirfriendship.
When we saw images from itseemed a little staged.
(02:12):
There's always photographs.
They're always holding hands,they're always laughing, they're
always having so much funtogether.
So in People magazine it wasupdated May 28th, so this was
last week.
This is the headline Deborah LeeFurness says breakdown of Hugh
(02:35):
Jackman.
Marriage is a profound woundthat cuts deep.
Quote my heart and compassiongoes out to everyone who has
traversed the traumatic journeyof betrayal, hasn't been in
there for two years.
It was on May 23rd that Furnessofficially filed for divorce
and that statement aboutbetrayal, that's harsh.
That doesn't do Hugh Jackmanany favors.
(02:55):
Another line in the statement,quote however, I believe in a
higher power and that God or theuniverse, whatever you relate
to, as your guidance, is alwaysworking for us, end quote.
That's a beautiful line.
I really like that.
That belief, she said, has,quote, helped me navigate the
breakdown of an almostthree-decade marriage.
So it really sounds like nowthis once amicable separation is
(03:17):
not so amicable anymore.
Hugh Jackman is in a bit of apickle right now because this
would be the time that he wouldtypically lean on his buddy,
ryan Reynolds, for some plannedpaparazzi shots where the two of
them would be together.
They'd be laughing, they'd bejoking, they'd be appearing
somewhere, they'd be on socialmedia, there would be some
(03:39):
coordinated event that theywould get press around and that
would take a lot of the steamout of something that Deborah
was saying.
But this is not a good look forHugh.
So it is curious to see whathappened in this marriage.
Now, again at this channel.
I do not wish ill will onanyone.
Everyone goes through problems,whether they're celebrities or
(04:03):
they're mere mortals like uswalking around the earth.
We want everyone to be happy.
However, just pay attention towhat Hugh Jackman's going to be
doing in the next couple weeksto deflect from this particular
crisis.
(04:24):
Reasons One they did show up inthe algorithm.
Not that I was going to talkabout them because they tend to
show up in my algorithm, I think, from a generation point of
view, similar ages.
That might be one reason, butit was an email request from a
reporter from a UK magazine abig, high gloss, high end one
who wanted me to provide a quote.
She wanted to interview meabout Jeff Bezos and Lauren
(04:45):
Sanchez.
My somewhat immediate reply wasI'm sorry, I just don't have
time due to work.
What I really wanted to say wasI'm sorry, I just don't want to
take the time to think aboutJeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez.
However, I paused on it for amoment and I thought she's
asking me about the psychologyof Jeff Bezos, and lately in my
(05:07):
work I've really paid attentionto the psychology of people and
why they do the things they do,and I do that in my work, so
naturally it's going to thinkabout it.
I did talk about their BlueOrigin space flight recently,
(05:28):
how I felt about that spaceflight.
I'll include a link in the shownotes to that episode.
But Bezos and his veryphallic-looking spacecraft I
think gives us tremendousinsight into what he thinks as a
male.
But let's just say I don'tthink it's a reach to assume
that Jeff Bezos is always tryingto flaunt more of a manly,
(05:51):
macho, rich guy, tech bro kingof the world-esque type of a
vibe.
He's the world's third richestman.
I see him as someone who is ina constant battle for the top
spot of the world's richest man.
The question that the reporterasked me was this Hi, molly, I
hope you're really well.
I'm writing a piece on the Bezoswedding for this magazine and
(06:14):
would love a couple of lines ofinsight from you to include, if
at all possible.
One thing I'm riveted by istheir visibility.
For years I never knew whatJeff Bezos really looked like,
but they are conducting theirrelationship in such a public
way, and then they talk abouthanging out with the Kardashians
, the red carpet appearances.
I would love to hear yourthoughts on why they are being
so public about their life whenpresumably they could very
(06:34):
easily be entirely discreetabout everything if they wanted
to.
What are they gaining from thepublicity?
What does anyone gain frompublicity?
Okay, I'd like to share withyou the quote that I wrote for
that reporter, because,psychologically, we all know
what's going on with Jeff Bezos,right, we all know.
So here's my quote Relevance isthe new wealth, and headlines
(06:58):
are its currency.
If Jeff Bezos can't be theworld's richest man, he can try
to be the most photographed one.
The relationship with LaurenSanchez is being sold to the
public as romantic, but whatthey're really selling is a
spectacle.
Together, they are trying toco-brand as an A-list power
couple.
Bezos has money to buy almostanything, but not respect.
(07:18):
That has to be earned.
What the public sees is acouple hustling for relevance
capital.
Jeff Bezos he's in his 50s.
So is Lauren Sanchez.
Someone on the live from lastweek said I don't think anyone
wants to see people that ageparade around, and when I first
read that I thought I'm that age, but then she said I'm 58 years
(07:40):
old and I don't want to seeanyone.
So I love that comment, butthat is what they're doing.
They're parading around atLauren Sanchez's Bachelorette.
Kim Kardashian, kris Jenner,katy Perry, eva Longoria these
are four people who I wouldclassify as a pay-for-play type
people.
They get paid to show up places.
(08:01):
So that is Bezos and Sanchez aswe ramp up to their wedding,
which is going to be held inJune in Venice, italy.
My prediction we're going tosee a lot of celebrities there,
but Jeff Bezos, no doubt, isfooting the bill for every
celebrity to show up at theirwedding.
All right, the next person whohad a tough week, elon Musk,
breaking up with the hand thatfed him, that would be President
(08:24):
Donald Trump.
Beautiful bill, he called it abig, beautiful deficit balloon
and he also voiced frustrationthat clean energy incentives
were stripped under the sameadministration he once backed
financially and politically.
Elon Musk has been shunned bythe administration and now he's
(08:48):
feeling it, and certainly theTesla stock prices have felt it
as well.
Now, since he's left this week,prices have felt it as well.
Now, since he's left this week,the stock prices have bumped up
a bit.
This screenshot that I havefrom May 30th it was sitting at
(09:08):
$359, but it was much, muchlower.
It was trending much lowerwhile he was going through a lot
of that bad press.
But from a PR perspective, he'shad a rough go because he put
everything into President Trump.
Electing President Trumpted byDoge was gutted to a point where
(09:38):
they couldn't successfullycollect money because of taxes
during the tax season.
So it was not an effort thatwent well for Elon Musk and he's
still going to struggle from aPR standpoint.
And the next person I want tohighlight was someone I
highlighted last week on thepodcast and that's Jake Tapper.
I mentioned, I read or listenedto his book Original Sin that
(10:01):
he wrote along with Politico'sAlex Thompson though you
wouldn't know that, because JakeTapper is getting all the hits
and he's taking heavy hits andthere was certainly a lot of
backlash towards him for being aworking journalist hyping his
book for CNN, where he works,hyping his book as well.
A lot of people didn't like it.
I have opinions on it.
(10:21):
I took those opinions to socialmedia, which is always
dangerous.
I showed a clip last week fromthe Megyn Kelly podcast.
Jake Tapper appeared on that.
Some people said he was doingthat to attract the right the
conservative right Fair argument, because that is the audience
of Megyn Kelly and he knew thatlikely a lot of Republicans
(10:44):
would want to read that bookbecause it puts Joe Biden in a
horrible light.
But oh, megyn Kelly gutted himon that show.
He definitely had mediatraining.
He definitely was prepared fora lot of the backlash, but I
don't think Jake Tapper wasexpecting so much backlash
because people there are just somany people took so many
(11:04):
different issues with the reasonwhy he wrote the book.
And the reason why I know thisis because I posted a follow-up
social media commentary.
Take on Jake Tapper.
I said, wow, I'm entering myKitty Wampus phase of social
media commentary.
Take on Jake Tapper.
I said, wow, I'm entering myKitty Wampus phase of social
media.
Because I posted a Megyn Kellyclip and everybody came at me
about Jake Tapper.
(11:25):
They were accusing me of beinga sellout to my values.
They accused me of defendingTapper.
They accused me of all sorts ofthings oh, that I was
supporting Trump, and all thesethings.
My takeaway from this is wow,jake Tapper definitely got a lot
of backlash, but the backlashcame from a lot of people on the
(11:45):
extreme radical left becausethey feel that if you're going
to write a book about someone,you should be writing about
Trump and what's going on in theWhite House.
Now, that's fair.
I totally agree.
That's fair.
But I look at things from ajournalistic point of view.
I also look at it from a mediapoint of view and I also look at
it from a realistic point ofview.
(12:06):
Cnn is not considered a newsstation to me anymore.
I'm sorry CNN.
They're an entertainment cablenetwork that happens to tell
news.
I believe that a lot ofjournalists out there not just
believe.
I know for a fact thatjournalists are required to be
relevant, they're required toget clicks, they're required to
(12:28):
be in headlines.
They are getting pressure to beseen in other places, mostly
online.
It helps CNN to have one oftheir anchors have a book out
there and talking about the book.
It helps when reporters have astory and then everybody's
chit-chatting about the storiesDoesn't matter if it's cable
television or local television.
I know this Social mediacurrency is the currency in
(12:52):
journalism nowadays.
Is that a little sad?
Yeah, but there's a mutualbeneficial relationship
happening there as well.
You can still find really goodnews out there, which is great,
and you can find it online.
But you cannot deny that thepressure isn't there.
It is, but even more.
Here's my take on Tapper and thereason why I'm not incredibly
(13:14):
agitated over Tapper.
One, I just get it.
This is the environment thatwe're in.
But two, this is what I said onTikTok.
Take a listen.
But my perspective as someonewho works on the inside of these
crises, the messaging meltdownsthat happen and the ego, the
hubris and the narcissism likewhy these things implode.
(13:36):
That's why the book interestsme.
It's what happened on theinside that interests me.
It would be like going afterWoodward and Bernstein and
saying, yeah, hold them in.
Mitchell, nixon, you guys aregood.
But damn these journalists.
The journalism, media industryhas changed so much.
(13:56):
Nowadays, I think everyjournalist, they're all for
themselves.
Their job is to get as manyclicks and relevance as they
possibly can.
That's the currency.
So Tapper is no different thanme or any other person you know.
On social media, everyone's acontent creator.
So that's just my opinion onthat.
But I totally get it.
The lines of journalism andethics totally get that.
And there's this for all thepeople who are criticizing that
(14:20):
Jake Tapper didn't do a story onTrump.
How can you criticize ajournalist for all the people
criticizing Jake Tapper fordoing a story on Biden?
You then would have tocriticize anyone who does a book
about Trump, because if you'regoing to be thrilled that
someone is going to write a hitpiece on President Trump, then
(14:44):
you have to say the same thingabout Biden.
That's journalism, that's theeconomy of media.
I understand the frustration,but it's the attack and, believe
me, I went through it.
If the taste that I got of it,I can't imagine what Jake Tapper
is going through right now.
His ratings on his program sunkbecause of it.
(15:05):
So that is the reason why I'madding him to my list of PR
fails for the week, because heis getting criticized across the
political spectrum.
He's accused by conservativesof covering Biden, mocked by
media peers for the book'srollout and questioned by
Democrat for his timing andchoices.
All right, everyone.
(15:25):
And now I have one last PR fail.
I happened to notice on Redditpeople talking about a viral
video about Delta Airlines.
So because I fly Deltafrequently, as a matter of fact,
I'm hopping on a flight in twodays, this viral video caught my
eye.
It was a young girl singing asong from Moana on the flight PA
(15:49):
system.
My immediate reaction assomeone who flies all the time I
do not appreciate when flightattendants make jokes and let's
sing happy birthday and let's dothis and whatever.
I don't love it.
I understand it.
I'm all for joy, but flying isjoyless to me.
So to try and make it not somuch is just painful for me.
(16:09):
If I were a flight attendant,if I were a pilot, that's how I
would approach every singleflight.
We don't know everyone's storyon here.
The flight was delayed, atleast according to social media,
by four hours, flying intoOrlando.
So you know there were kids onthat flight as well.
So there was a lot of angst onthat flight and that a flight
attendant would allow an11-year-old to get up and,
(16:31):
instead of me explaining it,take a listen.
A Delta Airlines spokespersontold Newsweek.
Quote we appreciate thecustomer sharing her talents and
apologize to our customers forthe delay in their travels.
End quote have you ever been ina relationship with someone?
They do something wrong andthen they apologize, but they
(16:51):
don't apologize for what theydid wrong?
That's what, exactly what thisquote is.
It is so bad it actually makesme think this is a fake response
.
That's how bad of a responsethis is.
They're trying to be cuteinstead of contrite, which is
what they need to be.
Probably would not have had anofficial statement.
I'll just say that I probablywould have just let it go.
(17:11):
Are you with me on this?
Are you with me?
Anyway, delta, as you heard inmy social media post, delta
Airlines came out with thatstatement.
I was shocked that the onlyplace that I saw that statement
was in Newsweek, but this is aninternal story, so I have to
leave you with one lesson fortalking about all these like
(17:33):
celebrities and people in thenews.
Here's a lesson.
If you work in any organizationand you have anything to do with
communication and this isstraight from my work, I did
this week in my job, I reallydid this Remember this Internal
problems cause external problems.
If you are dealing with anexternal crisis, I guarantee you
(17:53):
you are already dealing with aninternal crisis.
I promise you this.
So for Delta, this is anexternal crisis because it is
viral on social media.
It may not be anymore now thatit's a week later or a couple
days later.
Media it may not be anymore nowthat it's a week later or a
couple days later.
But internally, I know thereare a ton of flight attendants
(18:16):
who are dying to know who theflight attendants were on that
flight.
I know it and people weretrying to figure it out at the
time of this recording.
There's already a memo in theinbox of Delta employees, or at
least Delta flight crew.
It's just my prediction.
All right, everyone.
That's all for this week on thePR Breakdown.
Thanks so much for listening.
As I said from the beginning,come on over to Substack.
Check me out there.
(18:36):
The community is fantastic.
That's where I do extendedcommentary that you usually hear
on the podcast each week.
All right, everyone have agreat week.
Bye for now.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
True Crime Tonight
If you eat, sleep, and breathe true crime, TRUE CRIME TONIGHT is serving up your nightly fix. Five nights a week, KT STUDIOS & iHEART RADIO invite listeners to pull up a seat for an unfiltered look at the biggest cases making headlines, celebrity scandals, and the trials everyone is watching. With a mix of expert analysis, hot takes, and listener call-ins, TRUE CRIME TONIGHT goes beyond the headlines to uncover the twists, turns, and unanswered questions that keep us all obsessed—because, at TRUE CRIME TONIGHT, there’s a seat for everyone. Whether breaking down crime scene forensics, scrutinizing serial killers, or debating the most binge-worthy true crime docs, True Crime Tonight is the fresh, fast-paced, and slightly addictive home for true crime lovers.