Articles by Levick Experts

All too often these days, celebrities say dreadful, wacky, and outrageous things that most of us wouldn’t be caught dead thinking, let alone saying. Fame guarantees news coverage when the rich and famous say the monstrous or do the ridiculous. Sober or drunk, the tape is running.

The era of he said v. she said is over. There is always proof.

Compromising film footage, often available in this age of video-cell phones, never fails to draw a crowd -- in person and on the Web. However vile the content, we just can’t bring ourselves to shield our ears and eyes. Self-destruction evidently demands our attention as surely as the proverbial train wreck.

After their meltdowns, Mel Gibson insists he doesn’t want to be “that monster” and Michael Richards says what’s so insane about it all is that “I’m not a racist.”

Reaction to these attempted self-rehabilitations is ambiguous. Richard Nixon mastered the confessional art in the Checkers speech, but today's hand-wringing, the bare-naked degradation of stars and starlets, their parodies of remorse and expiation, provide a murkier brew. No wonder John Q. Public is confused. 

So just how do our errant celebrities salvage their celebrity brands once the cat’s out of the bag and the paparazzi are flashing? Actually, we can return to Mr. Nixon for the first rule of thumb. Apologize, apologize, apologize. The question, though, is how to make it seem heartfelt. 

Equally important, there are, from a professional communications standpoint, best practices to neutralize scandal and rev up the career engines once again.

First of all, and perhaps most important, get support from the organizations and people you need. For Michael Richards, that could mean the NAACP. For Mel Gibson, it's the Anti-Defamation League. Needless to say, your "advance scouts" will help facilitate behind the scenes initiatives so that any further embarrassment will be avoided.

Public works not related to the celebrity's offense can actually be more effective because it seems so much less obvious and manipulative. The classic example is Michael Miliken who rehabilitated his reputation through good works to prevent prostate cancer, which has nothing to do with the Wall Street crimes with which he was associated. A similar post-disaster communications strategy could be equally effective for show business folks.

Half the battle is to determine what the best communications strategy is. The other, tougher half, of the battle is being believable when you implement such a program and the broad recognition is that there is no time to lose when a crisis strikes.