September 24, 2025 • 16 mins
When three statements drop within the same hour, it’s not just news, it’s a case study.
- Disney walks back Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension with a vague, deflective release.
- Donald Trump grabs headlines in the Roosevelt Room, suggesting Tylenol in pregnancy raises autism risk — without evidence.
- Tylenol fires back fast with a direct, science-based denial.
In this episode, dissecting how each statement was crafted, what it reveals about the motives behind it, and why credibility — not spin — decides who wins the narrative.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Molly McPherson (00:00):
Two big stories dropped this week and they both
happened at the same time.
Monday late afternoon 3.44 pm,eastern Daylight Time.
Just in.
Jimmy Kimmel to be reinstatedafter suspension following
Charlie Kirk's comments.
Abc says 3.49,.
Abc ends Jimmy Kimmel'ssuspension and his show will
(00:21):
return Tuesday.
4.51 pm.
Trump's autism announcement isunderway.
4.56, just in.
Trump suggests Tylenol duringpregnancy can contribute to
higher autism risk A linkexperts say is unproven.
5.01, trump announces FDArecommendations on Tylenol use.
(00:41):
5.02.
Maternal Fetal Medicine Groupsays it's safe to use Tylenol in
pregnancy.
Oh, my goodness, that iswhiplash of news stories.
Hey there, welcome to the PRBreakdown Podcast.
I'm your host, molly McPherson,and I'm a little unprepared for
this podcast.
(01:02):
I already had something in thecan.
Then the announcement comesfrom the Walt Disney Company
that Jimmy Kimmel is coming back.
I hopped on social media rightaway, knowing full well I had to
record this podcast.
And just as I'm recording, Iget another notification from
the New York Times about whatwas happening at the White House
.
What was happening at the WhiteHouse?
(01:27):
That Donald Trump was making anannouncement, with RFK Jr and
Dr Oz on either side.
Is that by design?
Well, we don't know, but let'slook at the evidence.
Story one the Walt DisneyCompany and Jimmy Kimmel.
So let's start with the Disneystatement on bringing Kimmel
back.
As you know, quick rewind LastMonday, jimmy Kimmel Live.
Kimmel reacted to theassassination of a conservative
(01:49):
activist, charlie Kirk.
News Clip (01:50):
He had some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA
gang desperately trying tocharacterize this kid who
murdered Charlie Kirk asanything other than one of them
and doing everything they can toscore political points from it.
You can see how hard thepresident is taking this.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
My condolences on the loss of your friend Charlie
Kirk.
May I ask sir, personally, howare you holding up over the last
day and a half, sir?
I think very good.
And by the way, right there yousee all the trucks.
They've just startedconstruction of the new ballroom
for the.
News Clip (02:19):
White House.
Yes, he's at the fourth stageof grief construction he's at
the fourth stage of griefconstruction.
Molly McPherson (02:28):
That clip set everything off because by
Wednesday, fcc chair BrendanCarr was publicly threatening
ABC's affiliate licenses, nextarand Sinclair.
Two massive station groups saidthey'd preempt the show and
Disney, abc's parent company,decided to suspend Kimmel
indefinitely.
No surprise, it lit off afirestorm which was leading into
(02:50):
the weekend.
Rhetoric, strong rhetoricagainst the progressives, the
left, liberals, democrats.
(03:10):
This was a lot of posturingfrom a political point of view.
But now we have, on Mondayafternoon, disney puts out a
statement where it is a completebacktrack on what they did with
Jimmy Kimmel.
Now, before I read thestatement, I want to mention
that last Friday I did a live onSubstack.
(03:32):
I tend to go on once a weekminimum, usually on Fridays
sometime in the morning between9 am and noon, breaking down the
big story of the week.
It's a live chat.
I want to get other people'sopinion on it as well.
We broke down what washappening with the whole Jimmy
Kimmel situation.
Fcc chair Brendan Carr appearedon another right wing
conservative who actually hadmore subscribers Benny Johnson
(03:53):
than Charlie Kirk.
You could look at hisappearance on there and he was,
I mean, essentially pressuringthese station groups where they
own a bunch of affiliates Nowthe next stars and the
Sinclaircasting Companies of theworld was trying to acquire
Tango, which is another mediagroup.
So we have business there.
We have money, which I alwayssay about crisis, it always
(04:15):
comes down to money.
What he had to say with thepressure to these groups,
brendan Carr replied back with agif from the office of Steve
(04:37):
Carell and Rainn Wilson'scharacter, kind of like putting
their hands up in the air.
I mean, what a bizarre thingfor an FCC chair to write back.
But the outcry was strong towrite back.
But the outcry was strong andin this live we talked about
there's going to be now boycottsagainst Disney, against Hulu,
which was really hard becausethere's only murders in the
building is on, and I love itthis season, it's so good.
(04:59):
But I started reading some ofthe statements and one of the
statements that I read I thoughtwas so good.
Let me pull a part of it.
It's from the Writers Guild ofAmerica West and the Writers
Guild of America East, one ofthe things that I mentioned.
I didn't really see it anywherein commentary or in the news so
(05:20):
I could be off base on it, butit feeds into this kind of
boycott-itis.
That's out there.
What happens when you triggerunions, when you trigger other
groups?
They mobilize and they mobilizetogether and that pressure
builds up and people do things.
And what do people do now?
When they boycott and they wantto make a stand, they tend to
punch where it hurts and that'susually finances.
(05:42):
So I think finances hadsomething to do with Disney's
decision.
But this is part of thestatement by both of these
writer guilds.
Quote as a guild, we standunited in opposition to anyone
who uses their power andinfluence to silence the voices
of writers or anyone who speaksin dissent.
If free speech applied only toideas we like, we needn't have
(06:04):
bothered to write it into theConstitution.
What we have signed on to,painful as it may seem, painful
as it may be at times, is thefreeing agreement to disagree.
Wow, I stated on that live.
That's an excellent statement.
It was so good and it's notsurprising because it's from the
Writers Guild, it's fromwriters.
(06:25):
But day by day, the buildupstarted happening on social
media and I think the WaltDisney Company started to feel
the pressure.
Big names out there started tospeak out against it as well.
So now that leads us to theWalt Disney.
When the notification appearedon my computer that ABC made
this statement.
(06:46):
I immediately looked for thestatement.
I wanted to read it right awayand then hop on social media,
because that first reading iswhere I get the gist of the
statement.
You can get the intent behindthe statement.
So I didn't want to read it oranalyze it before I went on
social media.
So my social media response wasreally like a real response.
I'm going to quickly read thestatement and then let's look at
(07:07):
some of the words that theyused to see if that can help us
discern what's really going onbehind the scenes.
So this statement was releasedby the Walt Disney Company late
on Monday, september 22nd.
In the afternoon Last Wednesdaywe made the decision to suspend
production on the show to avoidfurther inflaming a tense
(07:27):
situation at an emotional momentfor our country.
It is a decision we madebecause we felt some of the
comments were ill-timed and thusinsensitive.
We have spent the last dayshaving thoughtful conversations
with Jimmy and after thoseconversations we reached the
decision to return the show onTuesday.
Now Disney did not say whetherall ABC affiliates were going to
(07:49):
bring back the show, becausesome of them balked about
carrying Jimmy Kimmel live lastweek Sinclair that is, the
broadcast group came out andsaid that they were going to air
the Charlie Kirk memorialspecial on Friday and they
flip-flopped and aired CelebrityFamily Feud instead.
So, in the theme offlip-flopping, let's break down
(08:11):
this statement.
So let's start with what theywrote at the beginning Quote to
avoid further inflaming a tensesituation at an emotional moment
for our country that'sdeflection.
The problem wasn't Jimmy's words, they're saying, it was the
national mood.
The responsibility was spreadoutward.
So don't look inward to us.
(08:32):
We didn't do anything wrong.
We didn't make a decision.
We were just reacting to whatwas happening in the country, to
the mood, and the mood, my dearlistener, was created by you.
It's their way of saying.
It's your fault.
You are part of the problem.
Another part of the statement wefelt some of the comments were
ill-timed and thus insensitive.
(08:52):
Notice the hedging Not wrong,not misleading, not blasphemous,
just ill-timed.
Wow, that's minimizing,shrinking the offense down to
optics.
Ill-timed makes it sound likeit was a calendar mistake or
when we ran it on the show.
(09:14):
And what is the right time?
Like would Jimmy Kimmel be okayif he did it on Tuesday night
or Wednesday night?
And then to call it onlyinsensitive?
Their choice.
Abc, disney's choice to pullKimmel created a firestorm.
A firestorm is created oversomething that was just quote
insensitive from late nighttelevision Wow, wow.
(09:38):
Then, once they suspended himand they bring him back in under
a week and this took place dueto quote thoughtful
conversations Can you imaginewhat those thoughtful
conversations were like?
I can imagine that, jimmyKimmel.
I saw Howard Stern make acomment on the air saying that
he did not speak to Jimmy Kimmelabout any of this, but he gave
(09:59):
his opinion where he said Iimmediately canceled Disney Plus
in support of Jimmy Kimmel.
He and Jimmy Kimmel are really,really tight.
So Howard Stern is going todefend Jimmy Kimmel.
But also, howard Stern wasspeaking from a place where he
had pressure over the years, notso much recently, but back in
his heyday, back in the 90s.
He was at war with the FCC.
(10:20):
So he's the perfect foil forthe government to come out and
speak out again.
But this statement is really awishy-washy, deflection,
flip-flop statement.
Either the suspension was anoverreaction or the
reinstatement was a retreat.
Both can't be true.
And Disney used we again andagain.
(10:42):
We made the decision.
We felt we reached a decision.
That's corporate fog.
It hides who actually made thedecision.
There's no name attached tothis statement from the Walt
Disney Company.
The only name mentioned isKimmel, and not even Jimmy
Kimmel or Jimmy Kimmel Live.
They just say Jimmy.
(11:02):
So this Kimmel statement wasn'tabout clarity.
It was about optics, buyingtime and protecting the brand
under political fire and alsounder financial pressure.
Trump and Tylenol.
Donald Trump speaking in theRoosevelt Room of the White
House.
He was flanked by Health andHuman Services Secretary Robert
(11:24):
F Kennedy Jr and Centers forMedicare and Medicaid Services
Administrator, dr Mehmet Oz, tomake this announcement.
Speaker 3 (11:32):
First, effective immediately, the FDA will be
notifying physicians that theuse of acetaminophen, which is
basically commonly known asTylenol, during pregnancy can be
associated with a veryincreased risk of autism.
(11:56):
So taking Tylenol is not good.
I'll say it it's not good.
Did you notice how?
Molly McPherson (12:02):
he struggled there.
That's why I think he defaulted.
Taking Tylenol is not good.
All right, I'll say it, it'snot good.
Did you notice how he struggledthere?
That's why I think he defaultedto Tylenol.
It's a lot easier for him tosay but that's alarmist framing
Strong words, very increasedrisk, not good with no
scientific consensus backing itup.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
He even admitted.
You know, I'm just making thesestatements for me, I'm not
making them from these doctors.
Molly McPherson (12:20):
That's not careful public health messaging.
That's a politician freelancingwith people's medical choices.
And then he pivoted intovaccines, of course because RFK
Jr standing there calling forsmaller doses over the years.
Again, no evidence cited.
It's a rhetorical move.
Stoke fear connected to abroader narrative and let the
soundbite live online where itgoes in direct contrast.
(12:44):
And it's fighting for airtimeand headline space with the
Jimmy Kimmel announcement.
He wants it to cover the Kimmelannouncement, the effect Panic
among expecting mothers,confusion in the medical
community and dangerousundermining of trust in safe
medications.
And personally I don't like thisfear-mongering around a
(13:06):
diagnosis of autism.
There are plenty of peopleliving with autism.
There are plenty of people onthe spectrum.
There are plenty of places onthe spectrum where autism lies.
We're labeling it as a problemand we're labeling people with
autism, kids with autism.
Why are we painting them assuch problems?
I mean, yes, it'sunderstandable.
(13:26):
It's something that we want tounderstand more.
We want to get closer to how wecan work with it.
So babies aren't born with thischallenge.
So we understand what's behindautism.
But it's so dangerous when wemake it seem like it's just this
awful, awful thing.
I have a nephew who has autism.
But if I were a parent rightnow with a child with autism, I
(13:47):
would be picking up the phoneand calling them and talking to
them and telling them thatyou're perfect, you're perfect,
there is nothing wrong with you.
There is no reason why weneeded a statement from the
Roosevelt Room about somethingthat you deal with in your life.
I don't like it, but that's mytake, that's my Molly take.
But then here's the thirdresponse Tylenol.
(14:08):
The parent company Kenview,responded quickly.
Quote independent sound scienceclearly shows that taking
acetaminophen does not causeautism.
We strongly disagree with anysuggestion otherwise.
Woof, that's the corporatecounterpunch Straightforward
denial grounded in scientificconsensus.
They went further.
Acetamiophen is the safest painreliever for pregnant women.
(14:31):
Without it, women facedangerous choices, suffer
through fever or use riskieralternatives.
Bam, this is what Disney'sstatement lacked directness.
Tylenol acknowledged the stakes, emphasized evidence and
outlined the risks of ignoringscience.
It's not perfect PR After all,they are protecting their
product, of course but it'sanchored in data and clarity.
(14:55):
Now, they knew this was coming.
There was an announcement thismorning that President Trump
would be making a statement, soI think he was just waiting for
it to be timed.
But this was a statement thatcame with a punch.
Now, if we line them up andcompare them.
The Disney statement it's veryvague, defensive, hiding between
we Trump.
(15:16):
Trump statement alarmistist,unsourced, emotional, designed
for headlines, not accuracy,designed for distraction.
And Tylenol Firm,evidence-based, corrective,
anchored in research and patientsafety.
What do they have in common?
All three are less about truththan about control.
(15:38):
Some of the statements havetruth in there.
Tylenol was backing it withdata, but they needed to control
the messaging because theirstock plunged.
So, yes, kimmel is back and,yes, tylenol is fighting to
defend itself againstpresidential claims.
But here's the real throughline.
We're watching a test incredibility.
Who do you believe?
(15:58):
Do you believe networks?
Do you believe you believe?
Do you believe networks?
Do you believe the president?
Do you believe scientists?
Because in all the story, thestakes are the same Trust.
That's all for this week on thepodcast.
Thanks so much for listening.
Does your head hurt?
Mine does.
Bye, for now.
Two big stories dropped this week and they both
happened at the same time.
Monday late afternoon 3.44 pm,eastern Daylight Time.
Just in.
Jimmy Kimmel to be reinstatedafter suspension following
Charlie Kirk's comments.
Abc says 3.49,.
Abc ends Jimmy Kimmel'ssuspension and his show will
(00:21):
return Tuesday.
4.51 pm.
Trump's autism announcement isunderway.
4.56, just in.
Trump suggests Tylenol duringpregnancy can contribute to
higher autism risk A linkexperts say is unproven.
5.01, trump announces FDArecommendations on Tylenol use.
(00:41):
5.02.
Maternal Fetal Medicine Groupsays it's safe to use Tylenol in
pregnancy.
Oh, my goodness, that iswhiplash of news stories.
Hey there, welcome to the PRBreakdown Podcast.
I'm your host, molly McPherson,and I'm a little unprepared for
this podcast.
(01:02):
I already had something in thecan.
Then the announcement comesfrom the Walt Disney Company
that Jimmy Kimmel is coming back.
I hopped on social media rightaway, knowing full well I had to
record this podcast.
And just as I'm recording, Iget another notification from
the New York Times about whatwas happening at the White House
.
What was happening at the WhiteHouse?
(01:27):
That Donald Trump was making anannouncement, with RFK Jr and
Dr Oz on either side.
Is that by design?
Well, we don't know, but let'slook at the evidence.
Story one the Walt DisneyCompany and Jimmy Kimmel.
So let's start with the Disneystatement on bringing Kimmel
back.
As you know, quick rewind LastMonday, jimmy Kimmel Live.
Kimmel reacted to theassassination of a conservative
(01:49):
activist, charlie Kirk.
News Clip (01:50):
He had some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA
gang desperately trying tocharacterize this kid who
murdered Charlie Kirk asanything other than one of them
and doing everything they can toscore political points from it.
You can see how hard thepresident is taking this.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
My condolences on the loss of your friend Charlie
Kirk.
May I ask sir, personally, howare you holding up over the last
day and a half, sir?
I think very good.
And by the way, right there yousee all the trucks.
They've just startedconstruction of the new ballroom
for the.
News Clip (02:19):
White House.
Yes, he's at the fourth stageof grief construction he's at
the fourth stage of griefconstruction.
Molly McPherson (02:28):
That clip set everything off because by
Wednesday, fcc chair BrendanCarr was publicly threatening
ABC's affiliate licenses, nextarand Sinclair.
Two massive station groups saidthey'd preempt the show and
Disney, abc's parent company,decided to suspend Kimmel
indefinitely.
No surprise, it lit off afirestorm which was leading into
(02:50):
the weekend.
Rhetoric, strong rhetoricagainst the progressives, the
left, liberals, democrats.
(03:10):
This was a lot of posturingfrom a political point of view.
But now we have, on Mondayafternoon, disney puts out a
statement where it is a completebacktrack on what they did with
Jimmy Kimmel.
Now, before I read thestatement, I want to mention
that last Friday I did a live onSubstack.
(03:32):
I tend to go on once a weekminimum, usually on Fridays
sometime in the morning between9 am and noon, breaking down the
big story of the week.
It's a live chat.
I want to get other people'sopinion on it as well.
We broke down what washappening with the whole Jimmy
Kimmel situation.
Fcc chair Brendan Carr appearedon another right wing
conservative who actually hadmore subscribers Benny Johnson
(03:53):
than Charlie Kirk.
You could look at hisappearance on there and he was,
I mean, essentially pressuringthese station groups where they
own a bunch of affiliates Nowthe next stars and the
Sinclaircasting Companies of theworld was trying to acquire
Tango, which is another mediagroup.
So we have business there.
We have money, which I alwayssay about crisis, it always
(04:15):
comes down to money.
What he had to say with thepressure to these groups,
brendan Carr replied back with agif from the office of Steve
(04:37):
Carell and Rainn Wilson'scharacter, kind of like putting
their hands up in the air.
I mean, what a bizarre thingfor an FCC chair to write back.
But the outcry was strong towrite back.
But the outcry was strong andin this live we talked about
there's going to be now boycottsagainst Disney, against Hulu,
which was really hard becausethere's only murders in the
building is on, and I love itthis season, it's so good.
(04:59):
But I started reading some ofthe statements and one of the
statements that I read I thoughtwas so good.
Let me pull a part of it.
It's from the Writers Guild ofAmerica West and the Writers
Guild of America East, one ofthe things that I mentioned.
I didn't really see it anywherein commentary or in the news so
(05:20):
I could be off base on it, butit feeds into this kind of
boycott-itis.
That's out there.
What happens when you triggerunions, when you trigger other
groups?
They mobilize and they mobilizetogether and that pressure
builds up and people do things.
And what do people do now?
When they boycott and they wantto make a stand, they tend to
punch where it hurts and that'susually finances.
(05:42):
So I think finances hadsomething to do with Disney's
decision.
But this is part of thestatement by both of these
writer guilds.
Quote as a guild, we standunited in opposition to anyone
who uses their power andinfluence to silence the voices
of writers or anyone who speaksin dissent.
If free speech applied only toideas we like, we needn't have
(06:04):
bothered to write it into theConstitution.
What we have signed on to,painful as it may seem, painful
as it may be at times, is thefreeing agreement to disagree.
Wow, I stated on that live.
That's an excellent statement.
It was so good and it's notsurprising because it's from the
Writers Guild, it's fromwriters.
(06:25):
But day by day, the buildupstarted happening on social
media and I think the WaltDisney Company started to feel
the pressure.
Big names out there started tospeak out against it as well.
So now that leads us to theWalt Disney.
When the notification appearedon my computer that ABC made
this statement.
(06:46):
I immediately looked for thestatement.
I wanted to read it right awayand then hop on social media,
because that first reading iswhere I get the gist of the
statement.
You can get the intent behindthe statement.
So I didn't want to read it oranalyze it before I went on
social media.
So my social media response wasreally like a real response.
I'm going to quickly read thestatement and then let's look at
(07:07):
some of the words that theyused to see if that can help us
discern what's really going onbehind the scenes.
So this statement was releasedby the Walt Disney Company late
on Monday, september 22nd.
In the afternoon Last Wednesdaywe made the decision to suspend
production on the show to avoidfurther inflaming a tense
(07:27):
situation at an emotional momentfor our country.
It is a decision we madebecause we felt some of the
comments were ill-timed and thusinsensitive.
We have spent the last dayshaving thoughtful conversations
with Jimmy and after thoseconversations we reached the
decision to return the show onTuesday.
Now Disney did not say whetherall ABC affiliates were going to
(07:49):
bring back the show, becausesome of them balked about
carrying Jimmy Kimmel live lastweek Sinclair that is, the
broadcast group came out andsaid that they were going to air
the Charlie Kirk memorialspecial on Friday and they
flip-flopped and aired CelebrityFamily Feud instead.
So, in the theme offlip-flopping, let's break down
(08:11):
this statement.
So let's start with what theywrote at the beginning Quote to
avoid further inflaming a tensesituation at an emotional moment
for our country that'sdeflection.
The problem wasn't Jimmy's words, they're saying, it was the
national mood.
The responsibility was spreadoutward.
So don't look inward to us.
(08:32):
We didn't do anything wrong.
We didn't make a decision.
We were just reacting to whatwas happening in the country, to
the mood, and the mood, my dearlistener, was created by you.
It's their way of saying.
It's your fault.
You are part of the problem.
Another part of the statement wefelt some of the comments were
ill-timed and thus insensitive.
(08:52):
Notice the hedging Not wrong,not misleading, not blasphemous,
just ill-timed.
Wow, that's minimizing,shrinking the offense down to
optics.
Ill-timed makes it sound likeit was a calendar mistake or
when we ran it on the show.
(09:14):
And what is the right time?
Like would Jimmy Kimmel be okayif he did it on Tuesday night
or Wednesday night?
And then to call it onlyinsensitive?
Their choice.
Abc, disney's choice to pullKimmel created a firestorm.
A firestorm is created oversomething that was just quote
insensitive from late nighttelevision Wow, wow.
(09:38):
Then, once they suspended himand they bring him back in under
a week and this took place dueto quote thoughtful
conversations Can you imaginewhat those thoughtful
conversations were like?
I can imagine that, jimmyKimmel.
I saw Howard Stern make acomment on the air saying that
he did not speak to Jimmy Kimmelabout any of this, but he gave
(09:59):
his opinion where he said Iimmediately canceled Disney Plus
in support of Jimmy Kimmel.
He and Jimmy Kimmel are really,really tight.
So Howard Stern is going todefend Jimmy Kimmel.
But also, howard Stern wasspeaking from a place where he
had pressure over the years, notso much recently, but back in
his heyday, back in the 90s.
He was at war with the FCC.
(10:20):
So he's the perfect foil forthe government to come out and
speak out again.
But this statement is really awishy-washy, deflection,
flip-flop statement.
Either the suspension was anoverreaction or the
reinstatement was a retreat.
Both can't be true.
And Disney used we again andagain.
(10:42):
We made the decision.
We felt we reached a decision.
That's corporate fog.
It hides who actually made thedecision.
There's no name attached tothis statement from the Walt
Disney Company.
The only name mentioned isKimmel, and not even Jimmy
Kimmel or Jimmy Kimmel Live.
They just say Jimmy.
(11:02):
So this Kimmel statement wasn'tabout clarity.
It was about optics, buyingtime and protecting the brand
under political fire and alsounder financial pressure.
Trump and Tylenol.
Donald Trump speaking in theRoosevelt Room of the White
House.
He was flanked by Health andHuman Services Secretary Robert
(11:24):
F Kennedy Jr and Centers forMedicare and Medicaid Services
Administrator, dr Mehmet Oz, tomake this announcement.
Speaker 3 (11:32):
First, effective immediately, the FDA will be
notifying physicians that theuse of acetaminophen, which is
basically commonly known asTylenol, during pregnancy can be
associated with a veryincreased risk of autism.
(11:56):
So taking Tylenol is not good.
I'll say it it's not good.
Did you notice how?
Molly McPherson (12:02):
he struggled there.
That's why I think he defaulted.
Taking Tylenol is not good.
All right, I'll say it, it'snot good.
Did you notice how he struggledthere?
That's why I think he defaultedto Tylenol.
It's a lot easier for him tosay but that's alarmist framing
Strong words, very increasedrisk, not good with no
scientific consensus backing itup.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
He even admitted.
You know, I'm just making thesestatements for me, I'm not
making them from these doctors.
Molly McPherson (12:20):
That's not careful public health messaging.
That's a politician freelancingwith people's medical choices.
And then he pivoted intovaccines, of course because RFK
Jr standing there calling forsmaller doses over the years.
Again, no evidence cited.
It's a rhetorical move.
Stoke fear connected to abroader narrative and let the
soundbite live online where itgoes in direct contrast.
(12:44):
And it's fighting for airtimeand headline space with the
Jimmy Kimmel announcement.
He wants it to cover the Kimmelannouncement, the effect Panic
among expecting mothers,confusion in the medical
community and dangerousundermining of trust in safe
medications.
And personally I don't like thisfear-mongering around a
(13:06):
diagnosis of autism.
There are plenty of peopleliving with autism.
There are plenty of people onthe spectrum.
There are plenty of places onthe spectrum where autism lies.
We're labeling it as a problemand we're labeling people with
autism, kids with autism.
Why are we painting them assuch problems?
I mean, yes, it'sunderstandable.
(13:26):
It's something that we want tounderstand more.
We want to get closer to how wecan work with it.
So babies aren't born with thischallenge.
So we understand what's behindautism.
But it's so dangerous when wemake it seem like it's just this
awful, awful thing.
I have a nephew who has autism.
But if I were a parent rightnow with a child with autism, I
(13:47):
would be picking up the phoneand calling them and talking to
them and telling them thatyou're perfect, you're perfect,
there is nothing wrong with you.
There is no reason why weneeded a statement from the
Roosevelt Room about somethingthat you deal with in your life.
I don't like it, but that's mytake, that's my Molly take.
But then here's the thirdresponse Tylenol.
(14:08):
The parent company Kenview,responded quickly.
Quote independent sound scienceclearly shows that taking
acetaminophen does not causeautism.
We strongly disagree with anysuggestion otherwise.
Woof, that's the corporatecounterpunch Straightforward
denial grounded in scientificconsensus.
They went further.
Acetamiophen is the safest painreliever for pregnant women.
(14:31):
Without it, women facedangerous choices, suffer
through fever or use riskieralternatives.
Bam, this is what Disney'sstatement lacked directness.
Tylenol acknowledged the stakes, emphasized evidence and
outlined the risks of ignoringscience.
It's not perfect PR After all,they are protecting their
product, of course but it'sanchored in data and clarity.
(14:55):
Now, they knew this was coming.
There was an announcement thismorning that President Trump
would be making a statement, soI think he was just waiting for
it to be timed.
But this was a statement thatcame with a punch.
Now, if we line them up andcompare them.
The Disney statement it's veryvague, defensive, hiding between
we Trump.
(15:16):
Trump statement alarmistist,unsourced, emotional, designed
for headlines, not accuracy,designed for distraction.
And Tylenol Firm,evidence-based, corrective,
anchored in research and patientsafety.
What do they have in common?
All three are less about truththan about control.
(15:38):
Some of the statements havetruth in there.
Tylenol was backing it withdata, but they needed to control
the messaging because theirstock plunged.
So, yes, kimmel is back and,yes, tylenol is fighting to
defend itself againstpresidential claims.
But here's the real throughline.
We're watching a test incredibility.
Who do you believe?
(15:58):
Do you believe networks?
Do you believe you believe?
Do you believe networks?
Do you believe the president?
Do you believe scientists?
Because in all the story, thestakes are the same Trust.
That's all for this week on thepodcast.
Thanks so much for listening.
Does your head hurt?
Mine does.
Bye, for now.
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