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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.

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