December 17, 2025 • 20 mins
This week’s episode kicks off Part One of The Top PR Wins and Fails of 2025 by pulling straight from the headlines and social media feeds that dominated the year. Instead of rehashing scandals, it digs into the decisions behind them: who understood the moment they were in, who badly misread their audience, and who confused being everywhere online with being trusted. From cultural power plays to celebrity miscalculations, the pattern is clear and a little uncomfortable. You can win the attention economy and still lose credibility. Part Two, covering the top five PR wins and fails of the year, drops next week.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Molly McPherson (01:22):
Hey there, welcome to the PR Breakdown.
I'm your host, Molly McPherson.
Today's episode is the firsthalf of the top crises of 2025,
good and bad.
But I'll start off right now bysaying the number one crisis
for me is getting COVID the weekbefore the holidays.
(01:43):
So I'm starting off thisepisode apologizing for my voice
right out the gate.
If you want to watch thisreveal on video, you can find it
on YouTube and on Substack.
I revealed it on a live chat.
This is the podcast recording.
If you want to hear the topfive wins and losses of 2025,
(02:03):
I'll reveal it this Friday,December 19th at 12 p.m.
Eastern Time.
Let's get to the first half ofthe list of the top 10 PR wins
and fails of 2025.
Before we jump in, here's howI'm judging this.
This is my opinion only.
It's based on how I look atreputation in my work every day.
(02:24):
My metrics, strategy, whatchoices did they make?
Did it help them or hurt them?
Reputation.
Did trust go up or down?
Press, volume, tone, goodpress, bad press, or no press,
and the big one (02:38):
reputation versus legal wins.
You know, people can win incourt and still lose public
trust.
And that matters.
My number 10 PR win is SouthPark.
They dealt with majorbehind-the-scenes business drama
with the Paramount Plus issuesand distribution chaos, but they
(03:00):
came out on top.
Their current run, season 27,has been one of the
strongest-rated seasons inyears.
Huge viewer spikes and severalepisodes pulling in a lot of
positive press and new viewers.
I've popped in and out of SouthPark because of my son Connor,
(03:22):
but this season, he was home forthe summer before he went back
to college.
We were watching skewing theWhite House, Trump with Satan's
child.
There's so many takes that areabsolutely hysterical.
And the reason why it's a winis because I think it is
bringing in so many viewers.
Now, they did have one bigreputational challenge.
(03:44):
Episode two, which was myfavorite episode, it was the Got
A Nut episode.
They uh highlighted an awardfor young master debaters.
They had Cartman modelinghimself as Charlie Kirk as a
campus debate persona.
And that was really the firsttime I understood who Charlie
(04:06):
Kirk was.
And then all of a sudden, heended up murdered, which meant
that could have been a lot oftrouble for South Park.
But they pulled the episode andkept moving on.
So why it's a win is becausethey've stayed culturally
central and relevant and alsopolitically dangerous, which is
all about their whole brandpromise.
(04:29):
That's why we're calling it awin.
Number 10 PR fail, crackerbarrel.
In August, the restaurant chainrolled out a simplified logo
and a broader modernization planthat removed the barrel, the
old timer mascot, and the oldcountry store type wording.
That triggered heavy criticism,particularly from conservative
(04:53):
commentators.
So there was a very steepone-day drop around 10, 12%.
So that logo shift was framedin the right-wing media as going
woke, which of course thenrevives a long-running culture
war narrative.
It was a big story.
And when I mention the pressmetric, some of it is kind of
(05:16):
personal.
I look at when the pressreaches out to me.
There are certain stories outthere.
All of a sudden, every pressoutlet is getting a hold of me,
usually like national networks.
And that was definitely thecase for this one.
I ended up doing an interviewwith NBC, and it aired on the
Today Show.
The CEO of Cracker Barrel toldinvestors that the last few
(05:38):
months have been difficult,emphasized that guest trust was
damaged, and said their playbooknow is really just going back
to that Southern Americanapositioning in an effort to win
back traffic.
I had people tell me in my DMsabout people who did the brand
redesign, and they said theywere absolutely mortified.
(06:01):
The number nine PR win, this isthe one that I didn't want to
say on the live because Ithought, oh, I'm going to get
hate from this one.
Candace Owens.
And it's not because I agreewith her, because I don't, but
strategically, she executed abrutal pivot.
Now, if you're not familiarwith Owens, she rose to
prominence in the late 2010sthrough viral videos and
(06:22):
appearances defending DonaldTrump.
She attacked Black LivesMatter, and she argued that
systemic racism is overstated.
She's worked with organizationslike Turning Point USA.
And she's hosted shows andpodcasts for right-leaning
outlets, including the DailyWire, where she was let go from
(06:44):
there.
But she has developed a largesocial media following that
treats her as a key right-winginfluencer.
But she has shifted of lateinto more general pop culture
stories.
Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds,Justin Baldone, Megan Markle.
She's just like a Megan Kelly.
(07:05):
She wants to get the views andthe clicks.
So she's moved from being aniche political figure into an
algorithm-dominating pop culturecommentary.
And it worked.
And now she's even biggerbecause she is the villain in
the Erica Kirk story, where alot of people view Erica Kirk as
(07:25):
the villain.
Many people are noticing thatErica Kirk now is doing a lot of
higher profile interviews, FoxNews, the recent CBS, Barry
Weiss Town Hall.
She was also part of the NewYork Times Book Summit.
But she's condemning theseconspiracy theories about
Charlie Kirk's killing.
And she's explicitly saying toOwens and others to stop.
Speaker (07:50):
The podcaster Candace Owens.
Okay.
At one time, a friend ofCharlie's, at one time, an
employee of Turning Point.
She has been one of the mainpeddlers of these conspiracies.
And she is making a huge amountof money on it.
She is building her businessoff of these lies.
What do you want to say to herand the other people that are
(08:13):
putting these lies out into theworld right now?
Stop.
That's it.
That's all I have to say.
Stop.
Molly McPherson (08:24):
Candace Owens is responding.
She's using her show andplatforms to double down.
She's implying that there's aninside job.
She's questioning TurningPoints finances, releasing texts
involving Charlie to supporther suspicions.
She's also gone very personalagainst Erica Kirk, accusing her
(08:45):
of quote, Meghan Marklesyndrome, which is you want
privacy but publicity and onyour own terms.
And she compares Erica'sappeals for deference as a widow
to the tactics that Owens usedto complain about around Black
Lives Matter.
The current state of the feud,if you're watching it, I have to
(09:05):
give the nod to Candace Owenshere because she's using
evidence.
She's does have a priorrelationship with Charlie Kirk,
and it is getting her a lot ofthe views.
And so at the end of 2025,that's a PR win.
Loser number nine, Blue Origin,and every person on that
flight.
You remember the Blue Originflight that launched an
(09:29):
all-female crew, including GailKing and Katie Perry.
This took place in April ofthis year.
It launched in West Texas.
It was in space a little over10 minutes.
But the reason why this wassuch a big fail, a massive fail,
were the reputationalcasualties.
(09:50):
Lauren Sanchez, who's nowLauren Sanchez Bezos, of course,
married to Jeff Bezos.
She didn't receive as muchreputational blowback because
this type of grasp for relevanceis kind of part of her brand,
so it fits.
But Katy Perry, Gail King, theylost serious reputational
currency doing this flight.
(10:11):
As most people saw, it wasn'treally going into space.
It was a brief micro gravityperiod where people could float
around a cabin when they canlook back at Earth.
But there were a lot ofcamera-friendly activities.
And Gail King later talkedabout being both terrified and
exhilarated.
Katy Perry made headlinesbecause she was singing a
(10:34):
snippet of what a wonderfulworld.
And she brought the Daisy inspace and referred back to her
daughter, Daisy.
Then when the capsule and thebooster came and landed safely,
King and Perry both kissing theground.
I just know it was a massive,massive fail.
Winner number eight, a name Inever would have put on this
(10:56):
list, but it's TatianaSchlossberg.
And by extension, CarolineKennedy, her mother.
This isn't a PR crisis.
It's a life crisis, but thecommunication was strategically
brilliant.
She published an essay in TheNew Yorker.
It was published on November22nd.
That's a symbolic date.
It was the anniversary of theJFK assassination.
(11:17):
Saturday releases, notsomething common.
You don't typically see that.
But in this case, this releaseowned the Sunday News Cycle and
it carried into the week.
And her piece emphasized suchsubstance about illness and
grief and motherhood and fearand mortality, but then widening
(11:38):
that emotional frame to hermother, Caroline Kennedy, and
everything that she's gonethrough.
She lost her father to anassassin's bullet, her uncle to
an assassin's bullet.
She lost her mother, JacquelineOnassis, at a very young age.
She was in her 60s when shedied, but she also lost her
brother, JFK Jr.
in 1999, of course, on a flightover the Vineyard Sound, along
(12:02):
with his wife, Carolyn, and hersister.
Caroline Kennedy hasexperienced a lot of grief.
And for Tatiana to bring her inwas important.
But it also created a verycontrolled line of demarcation
between Caroline Kennedy andRobert F.
Kennedy Jr.
Caroline Kennedy, back inJanuary of 2025, she made a
(12:25):
plea, put it on video, and she'snormally social media shy to
say that Congress should notconfirm her first cousin, RFK
Jr., to be the head of Healthand Human Services.
She called him a predator andthen laid it out.
In the live chat Herb in thecommunity, he said this is the
(12:45):
Kennedys are Molly's RomanEmpire.
And that's somewhat truebecause I know a lot about the
Kennedys.
I don't even need to researchany of it because I know so much
about it.
But there has always been aline between the RFK kids and
the JFK kids, that JackieOnassis is the one who put that
line there.
She felt, if you read historyand the books, that Ethel and
(13:10):
RFK's kids were kind of wild.
And when RFK was killed, therewere 12 kids, or actually 11.
Ethel, his wife, was pregnantwith their last child worry, but
they always were just kind ofwild children.
Jackie Kennedy wanted toseparate her two kids from that
kind of rabble-rousing crew.
And she did a very good job ofthat.
(13:31):
There's just always been astigma with that side of the
family, and it continues.
And Caroline Kennedy andTatiana Slosberg made sure that
line remained.
Which leads us to the numbereight PR loss.
That's RFK Jr.
And by extension, his wifeCheryl Hines and Olivia Nootsi.
RFK Jr.'s public reputation andbehavior has been in the
(13:54):
headlines for decades.
His wife Cheryl Hines recentlyhad to take the reputational
fallout by proximity.
She had to go out and do thedamage control when the story
about Olivia Nootsi, so she wasa fast-rising Washington
correspondent.
She wrote for New YorkMagazine, and she's profiled a
(14:15):
lot of politicians, includingRFK Jr.
And in 2024, it emerged thatshe had undisclosed a quote,
personal digital relationshipwith Robert F.
Kennedy Jr.
while covering his presidentialcampaign.
So that led New York Magazineto put her on leave and then
part ways with her.
Since then, her relationshipwith her fiance, Ryan Lizza, he
(14:39):
worked for Politico, those twowere going back and forth with
each other.
So that became a personalentanglement, to put it lightly.
Then Vanity Fair came in, namedher as a West Coast editor,
just as Simon and Schusterannounced that her memoir,
American Canto about Trump andRFK Jr.
and her own implosion, which itdefinitely is.
(15:02):
She would make my list, butshe's so late and not that many
people know her.
She'd probably be in my top 20list.
But she is a part of the RFKJr.
story.
So she's framing it now thatshe admitted doing something
wrong.
But if you know RFK Jr.
and how he works, it isabsolutely playbook.
(15:22):
And that's the reason why he ison this list right now, because
it seems as if every turn withRFK Jr.
chips away at the legacy, notonly the Kennedy family, but his
father, Robert Francis Kennedy.
And that's what puts him onthis list.
A PR winner, somewhatcontroversial when I announced
it on my live chat.
(15:43):
Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban.
The reason why I added them asa PR win is because they are the
couple that shows how to managea long-term celebrity split
without detonating your entirebrand.
Nicole Kidman is in the middleof divorcing Keith Urban after
their separation went public onSeptember 30th, citing
(16:04):
irreconcilable differences after19 years of marriage and two
daughters together.
Now, online there's a lot ofchatters of affair rumors, not
just with Keith Urban, but alsowith Nicole, more on Keith's
side.
Nicole is solidly a list.
Keith, I'd say, is a listadjacent.
But the two of them togetherwere able to navigate this
(16:27):
without letting it blow up,which is the reason why I
consider it a win.
They didn't feed the machine,they managed it.
Loser number seven.
Now, this person could also beon a PR win list, but overall
he's going to be on the loserlist because I think he's going
to pay for things down the road.
And even though this guy has alot of fans and a lot of people
(16:50):
in his corner, he's stillgetting a lot of losses here.
And that is Justin Baldone.
As you know, he is deeplyembroiled in an ongoing legal
battle with his It Ends With Usco-star Blake Lively, who is
suing him and Wayfair, hisproduction company that he
worked with, for sexualharassment, retaliation, and
(17:10):
alleged smear campaign.
Right now, Blake Lively isseeking more than $160 million
in a suit against him forreputational damage.
Now, there's been a lot of backand forth with the legal cases.
His countersuit against Livelyin the New York Times was
dismissed in mid-2025, but inthe civil trial on her claims
(17:34):
has been pushed to May 2026because of the judge's calendar.
The overall PR industry problemis alleging that a crisis firm
who worked with Justin Baldoneengaged in a broader Aster Turf
online campaign against BlakeLively.
I have strongly come out andsaid that I do not believe that
(17:56):
Justin Baldoney's team was apart of this massive PR smear
campaign.
I think a lot of celebritiesout there and publicists engage
in these negative back and forthcampaigns, but I really believe
that this entire lawsuitstemmed from Blake Lively and
Ryan Reynolds.
More specifically, RyanReynolds.
(18:17):
I don't think he liked howclose Blake and Justin Baldone
were.
But the fallout has hit JustinBaldone very hard because right
now he is not working.
I just did an interview withPeople Magazine that should be
out soon if it's not outalready.
And we were discussing the factthat he does not have a lot of
work.
He's taken a major financialhit.
(18:39):
And reputationally, studiosmight bulk working with him,
even though the public isthere's a big significant group
of the public who are on hisside.
I think legally andfinancially, he's taking big
losses, regardless of the publicsentiment.
So stepping out of thespotlight, whether voluntary or
(18:59):
not, can read his dignity andthat contrast matters.
However, in the long run, Ithink he's taken a huge hit.
PR winner number six, ChrisMartin and Coldplay.
At a July 2025 Coldplay show atGillette Stadium, the camera
landed on astronomer CEO AndyByron and his HR chief people
(19:20):
person, Kristen Cabot.
Speaker (19:22):
Oh, look at these two.
All right, come on.
You're okay?
Oh, what?
Either they're having an affairor they're just very shunning.
Molly McPherson (19:32):
And when they realized they were on screen,
they pulled apart and ChrisMartin joked.
That clip went viral, andInternet sluice did their job,
identified both executives, andwithin days, Byron resigned or
was forced to resign, followedby Cabot as the company
astronomer tried to contain thefallout.
The reason why I put him as aPR win is because on later tour
(19:55):
stops, Martin briefly addressedthe incident in one of those
moments that you knew peoplewould pick up online, and then
that would be shared virally.
But it was a way for him not tocome out with a statement about
it.
He could stay out of the mix.
And a lot of press out there,including the BBC, they framed
the whole saga as essentiallyneutral or even mildly positive
(20:18):
for Coldplay's brand because itcasts Martin as an unwitting
catalyst rather than a villainand focused the scrutiny instead
on astronomer leadership and PRstrategy, which is exactly
where it belonged.
And that's why it's a win.
He got the awareness bumpwithout becoming the villain.
And PR loser number six, Diddy.
(20:39):
From a reputation standpoint,Sean Combs is effectively in R.
Kelly territory right now.
His brand is radioactive.
His business empire has beengutted.
The serious conviction thathappened in July 2025 when he
was convicted on twoprostitution-related counts tied
to his so-called freak-offparties.
(21:00):
So he was acquitted of themarquee headline racketeering
and sex trafficking conspiracycharges.
Since then, he's been sentencedto a multi year prison term.
A list collaborators, brands,institutions will likely
Distance themselves from Diddybecause they don't want to be
associated with that type ofrisk.
(21:21):
It far outweighs any upside forbranding with Diddy.
It's not just a scandal.
It's like a seated reputationaltune.
There's no comeback narrativethat feels plausible right now
for Diddy.
All right, everyone.
Thank you so much for yourpatience with my voice as I work
(21:42):
through this list.
Next week's episode will be thePR wins and losses one through
five.
But if you want to know whatthey are a little bit early, you
can tune into my Substack.
You can find me at MollyMcPherson, and we'll have a live
chat.
That way you can jump in andgive your feedback on what you
(22:02):
think about the list, what youthink of my choices, and who you
think I might have missed.
You can join me on Substack onFriday, December 19th at 12 p.m.
Eastern Time.
Otherwise, I'll see you herenext week.
Bye for now.
Hey there, welcome to the PR Breakdown.
I'm your host, Molly McPherson.
Today's episode is the firsthalf of the top crises of 2025,
good and bad.
But I'll start off right now bysaying the number one crisis
for me is getting COVID the weekbefore the holidays.
(01:43):
So I'm starting off thisepisode apologizing for my voice
right out the gate.
If you want to watch thisreveal on video, you can find it
on YouTube and on Substack.
I revealed it on a live chat.
This is the podcast recording.
If you want to hear the topfive wins and losses of 2025,
(02:03):
I'll reveal it this Friday,December 19th at 12 p.m.
Eastern Time.
Let's get to the first half ofthe list of the top 10 PR wins
and fails of 2025.
Before we jump in, here's howI'm judging this.
This is my opinion only.
It's based on how I look atreputation in my work every day.
(02:24):
My metrics, strategy, whatchoices did they make?
Did it help them or hurt them?
Reputation.
Did trust go up or down?
Press, volume, tone, goodpress, bad press, or no press,
and the big one (02:38):
reputation versus legal wins.
You know, people can win incourt and still lose public
trust.
And that matters.
My number 10 PR win is SouthPark.
They dealt with majorbehind-the-scenes business drama
with the Paramount Plus issuesand distribution chaos, but they
(03:00):
came out on top.
Their current run, season 27,has been one of the
strongest-rated seasons inyears.
Huge viewer spikes and severalepisodes pulling in a lot of
positive press and new viewers.
I've popped in and out of SouthPark because of my son Connor,
(03:22):
but this season, he was home forthe summer before he went back
to college.
We were watching skewing theWhite House, Trump with Satan's
child.
There's so many takes that areabsolutely hysterical.
And the reason why it's a winis because I think it is
bringing in so many viewers.
Now, they did have one bigreputational challenge.
(03:44):
Episode two, which was myfavorite episode, it was the Got
A Nut episode.
They uh highlighted an awardfor young master debaters.
They had Cartman modelinghimself as Charlie Kirk as a
campus debate persona.
And that was really the firsttime I understood who Charlie
(04:06):
Kirk was.
And then all of a sudden, heended up murdered, which meant
that could have been a lot oftrouble for South Park.
But they pulled the episode andkept moving on.
So why it's a win is becausethey've stayed culturally
central and relevant and alsopolitically dangerous, which is
all about their whole brandpromise.
(04:29):
That's why we're calling it awin.
Number 10 PR fail, crackerbarrel.
In August, the restaurant chainrolled out a simplified logo
and a broader modernization planthat removed the barrel, the
old timer mascot, and the oldcountry store type wording.
That triggered heavy criticism,particularly from conservative
(04:53):
commentators.
So there was a very steepone-day drop around 10, 12%.
So that logo shift was framedin the right-wing media as going
woke, which of course thenrevives a long-running culture
war narrative.
It was a big story.
And when I mention the pressmetric, some of it is kind of
(05:16):
personal.
I look at when the pressreaches out to me.
There are certain stories outthere.
All of a sudden, every pressoutlet is getting a hold of me,
usually like national networks.
And that was definitely thecase for this one.
I ended up doing an interviewwith NBC, and it aired on the
Today Show.
The CEO of Cracker Barrel toldinvestors that the last few
(05:38):
months have been difficult,emphasized that guest trust was
damaged, and said their playbooknow is really just going back
to that Southern Americanapositioning in an effort to win
back traffic.
I had people tell me in my DMsabout people who did the brand
redesign, and they said theywere absolutely mortified.
(06:01):
The number nine PR win, this isthe one that I didn't want to
say on the live because Ithought, oh, I'm going to get
hate from this one.
Candace Owens.
And it's not because I agreewith her, because I don't, but
strategically, she executed abrutal pivot.
Now, if you're not familiarwith Owens, she rose to
prominence in the late 2010sthrough viral videos and
(06:22):
appearances defending DonaldTrump.
She attacked Black LivesMatter, and she argued that
systemic racism is overstated.
She's worked with organizationslike Turning Point USA.
And she's hosted shows andpodcasts for right-leaning
outlets, including the DailyWire, where she was let go from
(06:44):
there.
But she has developed a largesocial media following that
treats her as a key right-winginfluencer.
But she has shifted of lateinto more general pop culture
stories.
Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds,Justin Baldone, Megan Markle.
She's just like a Megan Kelly.
(07:05):
She wants to get the views andthe clicks.
So she's moved from being aniche political figure into an
algorithm-dominating pop culturecommentary.
And it worked.
And now she's even biggerbecause she is the villain in
the Erica Kirk story, where alot of people view Erica Kirk as
(07:25):
the villain.
Many people are noticing thatErica Kirk now is doing a lot of
higher profile interviews, FoxNews, the recent CBS, Barry
Weiss Town Hall.
She was also part of the NewYork Times Book Summit.
But she's condemning theseconspiracy theories about
Charlie Kirk's killing.
And she's explicitly saying toOwens and others to stop.
Speaker (07:50):
The podcaster Candace Owens.
Okay.
At one time, a friend ofCharlie's, at one time, an
employee of Turning Point.
She has been one of the mainpeddlers of these conspiracies.
And she is making a huge amountof money on it.
She is building her businessoff of these lies.
What do you want to say to herand the other people that are
(08:13):
putting these lies out into theworld right now?
Stop.
That's it.
That's all I have to say.
Stop.
Molly McPherson (08:24):
Candace Owens is responding.
She's using her show andplatforms to double down.
She's implying that there's aninside job.
She's questioning TurningPoints finances, releasing texts
involving Charlie to supporther suspicions.
She's also gone very personalagainst Erica Kirk, accusing her
(08:45):
of quote, Meghan Marklesyndrome, which is you want
privacy but publicity and onyour own terms.
And she compares Erica'sappeals for deference as a widow
to the tactics that Owens usedto complain about around Black
Lives Matter.
The current state of the feud,if you're watching it, I have to
(09:05):
give the nod to Candace Owenshere because she's using
evidence.
She's does have a priorrelationship with Charlie Kirk,
and it is getting her a lot ofthe views.
And so at the end of 2025,that's a PR win.
Loser number nine, Blue Origin,and every person on that
flight.
You remember the Blue Originflight that launched an
(09:29):
all-female crew, including GailKing and Katie Perry.
This took place in April ofthis year.
It launched in West Texas.
It was in space a little over10 minutes.
But the reason why this wassuch a big fail, a massive fail,
were the reputationalcasualties.
(09:50):
Lauren Sanchez, who's nowLauren Sanchez Bezos, of course,
married to Jeff Bezos.
She didn't receive as muchreputational blowback because
this type of grasp for relevanceis kind of part of her brand,
so it fits.
But Katy Perry, Gail King, theylost serious reputational
currency doing this flight.
(10:11):
As most people saw, it wasn'treally going into space.
It was a brief micro gravityperiod where people could float
around a cabin when they canlook back at Earth.
But there were a lot ofcamera-friendly activities.
And Gail King later talkedabout being both terrified and
exhilarated.
Katy Perry made headlinesbecause she was singing a
(10:34):
snippet of what a wonderfulworld.
And she brought the Daisy inspace and referred back to her
daughter, Daisy.
Then when the capsule and thebooster came and landed safely,
King and Perry both kissing theground.
I just know it was a massive,massive fail.
Winner number eight, a name Inever would have put on this
(10:56):
list, but it's TatianaSchlossberg.
And by extension, CarolineKennedy, her mother.
This isn't a PR crisis.
It's a life crisis, but thecommunication was strategically
brilliant.
She published an essay in TheNew Yorker.
It was published on November22nd.
That's a symbolic date.
It was the anniversary of theJFK assassination.
(11:17):
Saturday releases, notsomething common.
You don't typically see that.
But in this case, this releaseowned the Sunday News Cycle and
it carried into the week.
And her piece emphasized suchsubstance about illness and
grief and motherhood and fearand mortality, but then widening
(11:38):
that emotional frame to hermother, Caroline Kennedy, and
everything that she's gonethrough.
She lost her father to anassassin's bullet, her uncle to
an assassin's bullet.
She lost her mother, JacquelineOnassis, at a very young age.
She was in her 60s when shedied, but she also lost her
brother, JFK Jr.
in 1999, of course, on a flightover the Vineyard Sound, along
(12:02):
with his wife, Carolyn, and hersister.
Caroline Kennedy hasexperienced a lot of grief.
And for Tatiana to bring her inwas important.
But it also created a verycontrolled line of demarcation
between Caroline Kennedy andRobert F.
Kennedy Jr.
Caroline Kennedy, back inJanuary of 2025, she made a
(12:25):
plea, put it on video, and she'snormally social media shy to
say that Congress should notconfirm her first cousin, RFK
Jr., to be the head of Healthand Human Services.
She called him a predator andthen laid it out.
In the live chat Herb in thecommunity, he said this is the
(12:45):
Kennedys are Molly's RomanEmpire.
And that's somewhat truebecause I know a lot about the
Kennedys.
I don't even need to researchany of it because I know so much
about it.
But there has always been aline between the RFK kids and
the JFK kids, that JackieOnassis is the one who put that
line there.
She felt, if you read historyand the books, that Ethel and
(13:10):
RFK's kids were kind of wild.
And when RFK was killed, therewere 12 kids, or actually 11.
Ethel, his wife, was pregnantwith their last child worry, but
they always were just kind ofwild children.
Jackie Kennedy wanted toseparate her two kids from that
kind of rabble-rousing crew.
And she did a very good job ofthat.
(13:31):
There's just always been astigma with that side of the
family, and it continues.
And Caroline Kennedy andTatiana Slosberg made sure that
line remained.
Which leads us to the numbereight PR loss.
That's RFK Jr.
And by extension, his wifeCheryl Hines and Olivia Nootsi.
RFK Jr.'s public reputation andbehavior has been in the
(13:54):
headlines for decades.
His wife Cheryl Hines recentlyhad to take the reputational
fallout by proximity.
She had to go out and do thedamage control when the story
about Olivia Nootsi, so she wasa fast-rising Washington
correspondent.
She wrote for New YorkMagazine, and she's profiled a
(14:15):
lot of politicians, includingRFK Jr.
And in 2024, it emerged thatshe had undisclosed a quote,
personal digital relationshipwith Robert F.
Kennedy Jr.
while covering his presidentialcampaign.
So that led New York Magazineto put her on leave and then
part ways with her.
Since then, her relationshipwith her fiance, Ryan Lizza, he
(14:39):
worked for Politico, those twowere going back and forth with
each other.
So that became a personalentanglement, to put it lightly.
Then Vanity Fair came in, namedher as a West Coast editor,
just as Simon and Schusterannounced that her memoir,
American Canto about Trump andRFK Jr.
and her own implosion, which itdefinitely is.
(15:02):
She would make my list, butshe's so late and not that many
people know her.
She'd probably be in my top 20list.
But she is a part of the RFKJr.
story.
So she's framing it now thatshe admitted doing something
wrong.
But if you know RFK Jr.
and how he works, it isabsolutely playbook.
(15:22):
And that's the reason why he ison this list right now, because
it seems as if every turn withRFK Jr.
chips away at the legacy, notonly the Kennedy family, but his
father, Robert Francis Kennedy.
And that's what puts him onthis list.
A PR winner, somewhatcontroversial when I announced
it on my live chat.
(15:43):
Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban.
The reason why I added them asa PR win is because they are the
couple that shows how to managea long-term celebrity split
without detonating your entirebrand.
Nicole Kidman is in the middleof divorcing Keith Urban after
their separation went public onSeptember 30th, citing
(16:04):
irreconcilable differences after19 years of marriage and two
daughters together.
Now, online there's a lot ofchatters of affair rumors, not
just with Keith Urban, but alsowith Nicole, more on Keith's
side.
Nicole is solidly a list.
Keith, I'd say, is a listadjacent.
But the two of them togetherwere able to navigate this
(16:27):
without letting it blow up,which is the reason why I
consider it a win.
They didn't feed the machine,they managed it.
Loser number seven.
Now, this person could also beon a PR win list, but overall
he's going to be on the loserlist because I think he's going
to pay for things down the road.
And even though this guy has alot of fans and a lot of people
(16:50):
in his corner, he's stillgetting a lot of losses here.
And that is Justin Baldone.
As you know, he is deeplyembroiled in an ongoing legal
battle with his It Ends With Usco-star Blake Lively, who is
suing him and Wayfair, hisproduction company that he
worked with, for sexualharassment, retaliation, and
(17:10):
alleged smear campaign.
Right now, Blake Lively isseeking more than $160 million
in a suit against him forreputational damage.
Now, there's been a lot of backand forth with the legal cases.
His countersuit against Livelyin the New York Times was
dismissed in mid-2025, but inthe civil trial on her claims
(17:34):
has been pushed to May 2026because of the judge's calendar.
The overall PR industry problemis alleging that a crisis firm
who worked with Justin Baldoneengaged in a broader Aster Turf
online campaign against BlakeLively.
I have strongly come out andsaid that I do not believe that
(17:56):
Justin Baldoney's team was apart of this massive PR smear
campaign.
I think a lot of celebritiesout there and publicists engage
in these negative back and forthcampaigns, but I really believe
that this entire lawsuitstemmed from Blake Lively and
Ryan Reynolds.
More specifically, RyanReynolds.
(18:17):
I don't think he liked howclose Blake and Justin Baldone
were.
But the fallout has hit JustinBaldone very hard because right
now he is not working.
I just did an interview withPeople Magazine that should be
out soon if it's not outalready.
And we were discussing the factthat he does not have a lot of
work.
He's taken a major financialhit.
(18:39):
And reputationally, studiosmight bulk working with him,
even though the public isthere's a big significant group
of the public who are on hisside.
I think legally andfinancially, he's taking big
losses, regardless of the publicsentiment.
So stepping out of thespotlight, whether voluntary or
(18:59):
not, can read his dignity andthat contrast matters.
However, in the long run, Ithink he's taken a huge hit.
PR winner number six, ChrisMartin and Coldplay.
At a July 2025 Coldplay show atGillette Stadium, the camera
landed on astronomer CEO AndyByron and his HR chief people
(19:20):
person, Kristen Cabot.
Speaker (19:22):
Oh, look at these two.
All right, come on.
You're okay?
Oh, what?
Either they're having an affairor they're just very shunning.
Molly McPherson (19:32):
And when they realized they were on screen,
they pulled apart and ChrisMartin joked.
That clip went viral, andInternet sluice did their job,
identified both executives, andwithin days, Byron resigned or
was forced to resign, followedby Cabot as the company
astronomer tried to contain thefallout.
The reason why I put him as aPR win is because on later tour
(19:55):
stops, Martin briefly addressedthe incident in one of those
moments that you knew peoplewould pick up online, and then
that would be shared virally.
But it was a way for him not tocome out with a statement about
it.
He could stay out of the mix.
And a lot of press out there,including the BBC, they framed
the whole saga as essentiallyneutral or even mildly positive
(20:18):
for Coldplay's brand because itcasts Martin as an unwitting
catalyst rather than a villainand focused the scrutiny instead
on astronomer leadership and PRstrategy, which is exactly
where it belonged.
And that's why it's a win.
He got the awareness bumpwithout becoming the villain.
And PR loser number six, Diddy.
(20:39):
From a reputation standpoint,Sean Combs is effectively in R.
Kelly territory right now.
His brand is radioactive.
His business empire has beengutted.
The serious conviction thathappened in July 2025 when he
was convicted on twoprostitution-related counts tied
to his so-called freak-offparties.
(21:00):
So he was acquitted of themarquee headline racketeering
and sex trafficking conspiracycharges.
Since then, he's been sentencedto a multi year prison term.
A list collaborators, brands,institutions will likely
Distance themselves from Diddybecause they don't want to be
associated with that type ofrisk.
(21:21):
It far outweighs any upside forbranding with Diddy.
It's not just a scandal.
It's like a seated reputationaltune.
There's no comeback narrativethat feels plausible right now
for Diddy.
All right, everyone.
Thank you so much for yourpatience with my voice as I work
(21:42):
through this list.
Next week's episode will be thePR wins and losses one through
five.
But if you want to know whatthey are a little bit early, you
can tune into my Substack.
You can find me at MollyMcPherson, and we'll have a live
chat.
That way you can jump in andgive your feedback on what you
(22:02):
think about the list, what youthink of my choices, and who you
think I might have missed.
You can join me on Substack onFriday, December 19th at 12 p.m.
Eastern Time.
Otherwise, I'll see you herenext week.
Bye for now.
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