Skip to main content

PR Crisis Communication


According to the Washington Post, actress Roseanne Barr sent out a tweet May 29th of 2018 that was directed at former president Obama's senior advisor Valerie Jarrett. The tweet was said to be "unbelievably racist" and in "poor taste". The tweet read as follows "Muslim Brotherhood & Planet of the Apes had a baby." After doing so Barr was immediately fired from ABC. What is devastating about that for her is that the reboot of the show "Rosanne" just started, and had a great first couple of episodes. One of which even dealt with the division of thoughts on the current president. In the end Barr tweeted once more her apologies, but it was too late.

In today's world there are many PR tactics that end up very unsuccessful. In Rosanne Barr's case the quick apologetic tweet after the initial offense was PR mistake number one. This has been done many times, and tends to almost do worse than any good. Her apology was dismissed by not only Jarrett, but the entire public. I think to the public the apology seemed fake, and forced. It read exactly "I am truly sorry for making a bad joke about her politics, and her looks. I should have known better. Forgive me-my joke was in bad taste." ABC's instant firing and ending of the new show was also potentially the wrong move after all of the remarks. However, I understand that for business sake the show would undoubtedly had a significant drop in viewers after remarks like that. Especially after episodes that regarded the current president.

I think in today's world with social media and the way that we use it as a society it is so difficult to say what should be done in a PR sense. A part of me wonders if maybe an in person apology, or something filmed of more sincerety would be better for the people to see. Maybe a little more convincing than just a tweet that can be done instantaneously. Also, advice from her manager, or PR to avoid discussions such as these especially at the time of her reboot. Then we run into freedom of speech and many other obstacles. This same dilemma has happened so many times. A largely similar situation that comes to mind is Megan Kelly and her termination from the Today show after making a comment on air in regards to "black face". There is no one right way to avoid, or fix these things. Public Relations would be difficult with all the media and how it works today.

Comments

  1. SBartonArtFilmJuly 19, 2019 at 10:01 PM

    Oh yeah, I had forgotten about Meghan Kelly and that blackface thing. Remember that one time she said that Santa was obviously white? Good times. You make a lot of good points here, I do agree that had Barr reached out immediately to Jarrett with a public apology OFF of Twitter, maybe arranged that they meet together on Ellen or something, maybe invite her onto the show for a cameo appearance to address the mishap, any of those would have been better than what she did, which is apologize then rebuff immediately once she was fired. She look(s) like a loony tunes all over the place like that. Thanks for a thorough and detailed post.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Opinion Editorial

My Inspiration Op-Ed is from the Los Angeles Times titled "Happy 'Other' Mother's Day". It is an article that discusses a woman thanking all of the mother figures that have helped raise her throughout her life, rather than her own mother. Her biological mom died at 16. This inspired me, for two reasons. Being a mother any day now I am writing an article that would fall into a similar category of children and family. I also loved this article because growing up without a father I have many 'Other' Fathers that I thank on that one day of the year, and they are special. https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-torres-mothers-day-community-20190512-story.html The Universal Simplicity in Raising Our Children By Danielle Hagerty August 1 st , 2019 There is not a universal instruction manual for raising all of our children. I have seen many texts on different subjects of parenting such as, Raising Boys by Steve Biddulph, The...
1 comment
Read more
Popular Music The response of the recording industry to file sharing has been a negative one, hopefully with positive outcomes. In simple terms file sharing is as it sounds; the giving away of files for free. You could download music, movies, many files at no cost. This also means that the artists that created these files whatever they may be are getting nothing for their work. Napster, and Kazaa are some of the most well known sites that did this. As this began causing problems the record industry was successful in getting these companies shut down in court. I do not believe the 2013 ruling against Jammie Thomas will completely hault file sharing. The internet is much like the ocean, no can really control it completely. It is this weird place that can't be monitored as easily as everything else in our world. I do believe that it will bring notice to the fact that it is still happening and is definitely not okay. This is good.  Since using the "cloud" to st...
1 comment
Read more

Introduction Post

Hello everyone, I am Danielle Hagerty. I am currently a Junior at Metro State University of Denver. I am majoring in English with a Nonprofit Studies minor. I have always loved to read, write, and connect with people. Some of my favorite hobbies would include baking, and walking my dog. I love the outdoors when it is warm. I also love to laugh, and that is not a hard thing to make me do. I have already received my associates degree in english at Front Range Community College, and decided to transfer. I would like to receive my Bachelors degree in the next couple of years. At this time in my life I have been married for almost a year, and will be having my first child at the end of this semester. I am really looking forward the beautiful roller coaster ride of motherhood. I am also looking forward to beginning my goal of finishing college. (My best friend Daisy)
1 comment
Read more