Lately, there’s been a spate of celebrity PR disasters that have prompted me to consider whether we’ve finally proven the old adage that all PR is good PR is, indeed, no longer true.

I’d probably argue that it was never true, not entirely, but I’ll save that for another day.

Case 1: James Cordin

Unless you’ve been living in media deprivation, you’ve probably heard something about James Cordin, the seemingly affable host of The Late Late Show, behaving very badly to waiters at a beloved NYC restaurant.

Once this story broke, all kinds of other stories started circulating about Cordin IRL and his problematic behavior to both regular folks and his own wife and children.

This ‘scandal’ reminds me of the Ellen Degeneres revelations of backstage abuse that blew up a couple years back.

Interestingly, shortly before all this happened The Late Late Show host of 8 years had announced he'd be leaving the show in 2023.

No doubt, he was looking for new challenges for his career, though he talked about how it was the right time to move on for his family. (That old cliché)

Honestly, based on his popularity and image at the time, he probably could have had his pick of offers upon his exit.

But, not anymore.

My bet is that he’ll need to do a lot of work, way more than a simple apology, to regain the goodwill and ground he enjoyed before his off-screen antics became tabloid and TikTok fodder.

Case #2: Kanye West

And, then there’s Kanye going DefCon 3 on what appears to be his own business and career prospects with a slew of racist and antisemitic behavior and speech.

If you don't know what I’m talking about, I can’t summarize it here so I’m not going to even try.
​(Plus, where have you been?)

Suffice it to say, there are those who think this is Kanye’s genius PR move to position himself for his next presidential run and/or get out of contracts he no longer believes serve him or his business.

Kanye has lost more than half his net worth, according to Forbes, in just over a week's time.

So, no. Just no.

There's nothing genius about that.

As these two 'case studies' illustrate once your story gets into the public domain, you don’t own it anymore, which means you can’t really control it.

Anything can happen next!

Even when you're a celebrity.

My advice, then, is to consider carefully what you want to be known for and be sure it’s something you are able to back up in your everyday life and not just when the cameras are rolling, so to speak.

Be cautious in courting the media and remember that if there is tea to be spilt, someone eventually is going to spill it. So, have a strategy (and a really good one) in place should things go sideways.

Remember, public trust is hard to win, but oh so very easy to lose.

Until next week, here's hoping you find ways to stay in the zeitgeist and out of the tabloids.

PS – Producers of the recently completed and subsequently shelved Kanye documentary, MRC Entertainment, released what, in my opinion, is the best response to the Kanye situation.

PPS - In case you missed it, last week's Wise Men Say was all about Elvis, the man and the movie.

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