273: 2023's Unforgettable Celebrity Scandals: A Year in Review

Molly McPherson [00:00:00]:
Testing, one, two, three. Testing, one, two, three. Hey, everyone. This is Molly McPherson, and you are listening to a raw, unedited cut of the indestructible pr podcast. Now, you know me as your crisis communication strategist. Perhaps you know me from this podcast, TikTok. Perhaps you're coming here because you just read about me in last week's Boston Globe, behind the paywall. So that means you're a subscriber no matter how you got here.

Molly McPherson [00:00:30]:
Welcome to the podcast. This is a different type of an episode because this. I'll call it a transition episode. We just finished the fourth season, starting the fifth season of the indestructible pr podcast. Cannot believe that I've been doing this for five years at this point. I am transitioning into a new format. When I started this podcast five years ago, my avatar, if you will, really speaking to people who I was working with, my client base, people I was either working with as a client or as a trainer or as a public speaker. Ceos, small business leaders, presidents, business owners, directors, also communicators, people who were just looking for the latest tips.

Molly McPherson [00:01:22]:
And usually a podcast episode was structured around something that I wanted to learn more about or if there was someone I wanted to talk to. So really, a podcast based on the function of communication, public relations, crisis communication, crisis management. I also spoke about media training and public speaking, interviewed a lot of people. You can go back to episode number one. Not that I would encourage you to do that, because you'll notice. So a lot of changes. One like the name of the podcast for one. Just the production quality, the value, just all of it.

Molly McPherson [00:01:57]:
Okay. But I'm not going to poo poo myself by any means, because considering the schedule that I have and the work that I do, the fact that I can come out with a weekly podcast is incredible. And as a matter of fact, the first time I've ever missed a week, and in this case, it was intentional. But I have been publishing every week for over five years straight. But I just intentionally didn't put one up. The week of Christmas. The week of the Christmas holiday. Didn't want to.

Molly McPherson [00:02:28]:
I just wanted to leave it there. And it was a good episode, and it was with David McAlpin, and he know, former broadcast producer, television producer. We were talking about media relations, and I'm actually going to have him know with my Patreon members as well in PR confidential coming up soon. But the podcast has transitioned significantly in these five years. I now am changing. If you have been mean, particularly if you're an OG listener. Like the Sean's out there, the Allen's out there. You know who you are.

Molly McPherson [00:03:04]:
You've been listening and supporting me this entire time. But for all the people who have been listening this other time, you just noticed that I've had a slight transition, and a lot of that has to do with TikTok. TikTok definitely changed how I approach my business, not the business that I do. The business that I do is the exact same, but what I'm known for has changed. Now, this episode is about the unforgettable celebrity scandals of 2023. Essentially, I'm doing a year in review. I am taking a look at the top five episodes of the year. Determined by who? Me? No, you determined by the amount of downloads.

Molly McPherson [00:03:45]:
So this would be the top five episodes of the year. So I just want to release what those are. And when you hear these episodes, you're going to get a sense of why I am tweaking my format. A lot more. People, obviously are coming to this podcast now because of TikTok. I do know, based on people who I talk to and feedback that I get is that people just assume that I'm now like a celebrity gossip content creator. Nothing can be further from the truth. I mean, yes, I do bring that in, but I use it more as a device.

Molly McPherson [00:04:19]:
I use what is happening in culture. So whether it's popular, celebrity, entertainment, political, breaking news, anything that people are talking about and where I happen to see it on the news, in the newspaper, or on social media, I'm going to bring it into a TikTok. Because if there is a communication lesson to be learned from that, I want to pull something out of it. In 2024, I'm working on a lot of things. I'm going to be doing more public speaking. I'm also writing a second book, and this one is going to be a good one. This is what I really do. And that is getting into more of the behind the scenes and just bringing people behind the curtain so they can see how pr, public relations and publicity is deployed, how people manage a crisis, particularly in communication terms.

Molly McPherson [00:05:14]:
I love spotting that I'm in a place now where I can do that. I'm a seasoned communicator. I'm a seasoned crisis communicator. I've been in this business for years. I've worked in media. I've worked in journalism. I've worked as a reporter. I've worked as a producer.

Molly McPherson [00:05:29]:
I've been a public affairs public information officer, a pio pio, and also I've worked really, even though I don't really wear this hat. But I've also worked as a publicist, so I've done proactive pr. I've worked in Washington, DC. I've worked for the federal government. I've done a lot of things. Why? Because I'm old. I've lived, but with all that, I just want to give it all back and tell people what I've learned and kind of share it. So some people will say I am, or would not say, but more accused, like, oh, you're just part of the people who are the puppet masters out there.

Molly McPherson [00:06:03]:
And no, it's like, I'm not the puppet master. No, I'm standing on the side of the curtain. So I see the puppet master, I see the strings, I see the manipulation. But I'm also talking to the audience and I'm pointing it out. Those are the strings. Okay. You don't see the puppet master, but let me tell you what the puppet master is doing. Let me tell you why the puppet master is doing what the puppet master is doing.

Molly McPherson [00:06:28]:
And if anyone really is paying attention to my work, like really paying attention to my work, you'll know that it's not just pr. It's not just public relations. It's human relations. Because PR is just HR. It's public relations is human relations. That's what I'm always looking for, is why people do what they do. And that's what makes crisis communication so fun. And really, it gets into the reason why these five episodes are the top episodes of the year, the top downloads of the year now.

Molly McPherson [00:07:01]:
Okay. Also, scientifically, we just have to, like, if you're running the numbers here, clearly, it's going to be my last episodes because my podcast has been growing a lot significantly in the last year. My goodness, the numbers are incredible, how quickly the downloads are coming. So it's definitely weighted. I mean, obviously, it's going to be the last ones of the year. But my podcast provider gives you a roundup, just like if you follow, if you use Spotify or YouTube music, they do kind of a roundup of all the things that you listen to. My podcast provider does the same thing. So I did find out what my top five episodes are, and I want to share them with you because you all, dear listener, were a part of that.

Molly McPherson [00:07:44]:
But before that, I wanted to let you know some other stats that came out from my provider that won. I've been doing one episode per week for the past five years. The first time that I did not have an episode was last week, because it was the Christmas holiday. I didn't want to do just. I didn't want to put anything over the holiday. And I left. The last episode, it was with David McKelpin, and it was about media relations. He was a former producer, national television producer.

Molly McPherson [00:08:16]:
So we talked about media and how to be a media spokesperson. But starting now with this episode, this is just a raw, more uncut episode. As I transition out of my one format that I've been using for a while with the music and the format that I was using, and I'm tweaking the format. I'm not changing it because I didn't like it. I loved it. My original producer who helped me put that together was Scott Wilde. Someone very near and dear to me helped come up with the music and the whole format that I was using. And it was perfect for that time, and it was perfect for the many years that I used it like that.

Molly McPherson [00:08:56]:
I would take one topic and I would go deep, deep, deep into that one topic. But now, with just, frankly, the lack of patience that people have, whether they're watching television streaming, whatever it is, people do not have time to sit to listen to someone ramble on and on and on and on on a podcast, unless it's a really compelling interview or if there's a high production value, people don't need to hear me for 45 minutes. There may be times when that happens. Maybe it's in an interview, but I'm going to tighten these podcasts to keep them tighter, but to keep them richer. It's going to be more like a TikTok plus. Whereas my Patreon, my PR confidential with Molly McPherson, you'll find that on Patreon. That's more of the off the record Molly. So that's like a TikTok plus.

Molly McPherson [00:09:45]:
But I also have professional tiers there. So if you're interested in pr comms, whether you're someone who wants to get into the industry, you're already in the industry. I have different tiers. In my top tier, professional annual tier, if you want consulting, you get monthly consulting. So just sign up for an annual membership, which, when I tell you, is a fraction of the price of my consulting that you would pay for, and you get it monthly, and you can just sign up whenever you want. You get the link and you can sign up. I had two last week back to back, and the incredible thing, they were both like similar industries going through a similar thing. It was crazy.

Molly McPherson [00:10:22]:
And that's what I find, is that so many people are going through the same problems, there just happen to be in different people, different industries, sometimes the same industry, but it's just fascinating. I love what I do, but more than loving what I do, I love when I help someone, when I'm doing what I do for a living. All right, top cities, also not that surprising. Here are the top media markets in the US, though this one isn't. But number five is DC, where I used to live. I used to live right outside of it, a couple of minutes outside of DC in Alexandria, Virginia, an old town that's my fifth top market for downloads. Number four, Toronto. I have a lot of friends in Toronto, a lot of my classmates, my roommate when I went to Boston University, Toronto, and I have had guests from Toronto, a number of guests.

Molly McPherson [00:11:13]:
And so all of you, my Canadians, my listeners to the north, I thank you so much. Number three, Chicago. I would love to give credit to my daughter Kate, who goes to school there, at a jesuit university there, and all her friends, I'm sure listening not, but all my Chicago listeners, thank you. You're number three. Number two would be the market that most people think I'm broadcasting from. So many people, I'm starting to, which is weird, at least for me. I'm meeting people kind of out in the wild now. People are starting to kind of recognize me and kind of come up and are you blah, blah, blah.

Molly McPherson [00:11:55]:
And they're always shocked to see me. When they see me on the east coast or in an airport, they're very surprised to see me, and they're very surprised to learn where I live because they all tend to say, I thought you lived in Los Angeles. And that's because I'm talking about celebrities. Although I do work in the entertainment space and I do work with entertainment clients. Definitely. I happened to see one recently on television. I was like, wow, I didn't even know they were doing that. That's crazy.

Molly McPherson [00:12:27]:
And I was also quite happy because I thought, oh, that plan worked out, so congratulations for them. But I do know a lot of people who work there and work in the entertainment, but I'm not physically located there. But that's my number two market, and my number one market. NYC. NYC. Annie. Love the musical. Love that song.

Molly McPherson [00:12:52]:
New York City. Number one market. Not a surprise, but love all my listeners there. I'm there all the time as well. All right. And my podcast provider was so nice to tell me that my podcast in the top 5% of podcasts from their platform, top country. Not surprised. United States.

Molly McPherson [00:13:10]:
And then Canada. United Kingdom. Australia. Australia. Not surprising. I mean, it's big, obviously, but I do morning television there a lot. Number five is Ireland. Don't know why.

Molly McPherson [00:13:21]:
Could be because I have an irish last name. Maybe people assume that I'm in Dublin, but that would be number five. But to all of you, thank you for all the listeners, whether you're in that top five market or not, love having you here. All right, top five episodes of the year. This is the roundup for 2023 and the reason why I'm also giving a little bit of a tweak to the format. What you're going to see coming up in 2024, slowly. I'm going to be working with a new producer. We're going to be increasing the production element of the podcast.

Molly McPherson [00:13:58]:
Also, I'm not going to be doing just one deep dive on something. I'm going to do a little bit of a deeper dive, kind of like a TikTok plus. But we're always going to get the lessons, though. This is still a communication pr crisis communication podcast. I mean, that is what this podcast is. So if you work in comms, you know, someone who works in comms, feel free to recommend the podcast. That's what I do. Or if you're a business owner, small business owner, you're an influencer, someone who needs to communicate with stakeholders, I'm talking to you as well.

Molly McPherson [00:14:30]:
I mean, you are going to be a part of. You are an avatar as well, because I want to give people insight into how they can manage their reputation. But the device that I use is popular culture. What's happening in culture? Politics, news, breaking news, yes, celebrity, yes entertainment. But it's really what people are talking about. These kind of universal, everyday, watercooler, bubbler type stories that you've heard about, these trending stories. I'm extracting the lesson, the pr lesson. I want to bring you behind the scenes, show you the strings, show you what the puppet master is doing, because that's why people follow me.

Molly McPherson [00:15:07]:
That's what they're interested in. That's where I get all the comments on TikTok and Instagram every single day. And I can't do a post. I cannot do a post for all of them, but I can talk about them more on the podcast. So I'm going to do one deeper topic, and then I'm going to do my news dumps. They won't be Friday news dumps unless you listen on a Friday. But I'm just going to kind of hit some of the top things that are happening and answer the questions that are in the dms on my social media, so at least I can talk to people about that. All right, the number five episode for the year was episode 271.

Molly McPherson [00:15:42]:
That's 2020 three's biggest public relations fiascos. A year in review. This is an episode. I brought in two of my favorite people who work in the crisis management media training space. That's Warren Weeks, one of the best media trainers out there. He's out of Toronto. Weeks media. And then also John Piernak.

Molly McPherson [00:16:02]:
Those two are buddies. John, also in Toronto, is more in a. And I say this in a very positive way. He's like a pr crisis management kind of nerdy, but in a really good way because he looks at things analytically. He researches them extensively. He's really good. He works at a firm out of Toronto where they work with clients on communication strategy and crisis management. I brought them in.

Molly McPherson [00:16:28]:
I asked both of them to come with their top pr crises of the year. So here's just a taste of what we're talking about. Here's Warren Weeks.

Speaker B [00:16:39]:
So I'm going to start by attacking the house of the mouse. I'm going after Disney. And this kind of hurts me because I love the Disney stories and watched them as a kid and read the stories to my daughters, but from a business perspective, and a lot of people are like, oh, my God, what's the crisis? This isn't a moment in time, but to me, it's a bit of a process. And over the last several years, the Disney company has been in a bit of a downward spiral.

Molly McPherson [00:17:05]:
And a lot of. I got a lot of comments on this episode because we peeled back the layers on a number of scandals that were there. Also, we talked about Sports Illustrated, how they kind of created a reporter out of AI whole cloth. Also talked about the indigenous claims made by singer Buffy St. Marie. We talked about Sheen. We talked about Israel. John Pernak talked about Israel.

Molly McPherson [00:17:32]:
I got a lot of comments on. On Twitter, or some people agreed with what he said. Some people did not. But you can definitely check out that episode in the show notes. But it's a fun episode. All right, so number four, it's episode 269, the fine line between apology and denial, a case study of Colleen Ballinger and Matt Rife. The reason why I combine those two is I did two TikToks. This was around Thanksgiving, and I noticed that they had used a strategy in their apology, and that strategy was the non apology.

Molly McPherson [00:18:06]:
Both of them, I think, kind of successfully dodged a huge crisis by not even apologizing for it, which is kind of a unique take. Isn't know. People are always looking at I. People come to me thinking what I do is I just break down apologies. So it was kind of fun to break down a non apology. It stems from the Matt rife piece. At least a comedian got a lot of popularity on TikTok stemming from this joke, which was kind of leaked out there. A Netflix comedy special.

Molly McPherson [00:18:37]:
Take a look in the response. Take a listen.

Speaker C [00:18:39]:
I've only been to Baltimore one time. I ate lunch there, and the hostess who seats you at the restaurant had a black eye, a full black eye. And it wasn't like what happened. It was pretty obvious what happened. And we couldn't get over the fact that we're like, this is the face of the company. This is where you have greeting people. And my boy, who I was with, was like, yeah, I feel bad for her, man. I feel like they should put her in the kitchen or something where nobody has to see her face.

Speaker C [00:19:07]:
And I was like, yeah, but I feel like if she could cook, she wouldn't have that black eye.

Molly McPherson [00:19:12]:
So it was that joke that kicked off the Matt Rife public relations crisis that I wanted to analyze, and I brought in the Colleen Ballinger piece because she, this basically the same take. So what I talked about was the importance of understanding your audiences, your stakeholders during a crisis, and the potential harm when you trivialize issues with insensitivity or humor like Matt Rife, and how showing sincerity or a lack of sincerity definitely has an impact on how you come out of that crisis. All right, number three, no surprise that these two people would be on this list. Taylor Swift and Travis Kelsey. Episode 268, dissecting the PR relationship rumors. This was my definitive take, which was also could be titled, oh, my gosh. I am so sick of explaining what a pr beneficial relationship is in the realm of Travis and Kelsey. Travis, I'm sorry, and know, so many people on know reached out to know about these two, and I've talked about them, I would say somewhat extensively.

Molly McPherson [00:20:16]:
And I'm known as someone who says, yes, it is a pr relationship, but yes, you can have a relationship. You can still be in love with someone and still have a mutually beneficial relationship. What is the description of one? If you can highlight brand enhancements by being with a person, it's pr. So if you're a singer and one's a football player and he works for the NFL, or his team's part of the NFL, and the NFL gets a brand enhancement. My God. If you watch football, which the other day, football the other day was just like a nightmare. I mean, just starting the Patriots, it's impossible to watch the Patriots. But then that night, watching the Vikings and the packers and like, oh, my God, Vikings fans, it's like watching it in the.

Molly McPherson [00:21:04]:
It's just so frustrating. But all the clips, if anything comes out, the Chiefs, it's always Travis, Kelsey, you always see it. That's pr. It's not to say that they're not together, but that's what I did in this episode is. It was like, listen, swifties, you're coming at me. Let me explain what's going on here, and we can all be in agreement on that. So I also talked about just other celebrity relationships, but also how you can even have a PR relationship with someone, your partner, your spouse, your boyfriend, girlfriend, whatever it is. You both can have brand enhancements.

Molly McPherson [00:21:43]:
Being with each other enhances your brand and it's being complementary. It's the same concept. It's the same concept. And in some cases, it can be your jobs. Like, both of your jobs enhance each other. I was having this conversation with my significant other just today on a walk, and we were talking about that how what I do can help him in something that he's doing and how what he does has helped me in what I do. It's mutually beneficial. So think about it.

Molly McPherson [00:22:20]:
It's not a bad thing. It's a good thing. That's why PR is a good thing. That's why the word beneficial, it's all good. It's all good. But also coming up in my format, tweak. I'm bringing on someone. I've already recorded one episode.

Molly McPherson [00:22:37]:
It's going to be coming out soon, but it's going to be like a new series that I'm doing. And the next one that we're going to do is Taylor and Travis. It's going to be so good. So you'll want to stick around for that one. All right. Number two, episode 248, back to Colleen Ballinger. This one was a huge episode when Colleen Ballinger was first having her whole toxic train, ukulele Michigan Mishmash mess. I did a YouTube live and I did a podcast and oh, my gosh, the numbers of people who are following along on my.

Molly McPherson [00:23:13]:
My TikTok became monetized simply because of a live that I did. So many people were on that live, so I did a breakdown. The name of the title is Colleen Ballinger. Miranda sings behind the headlines of this PR crisis, and I really talked know she had this kind of unique ukulele protest song explaining why she was singing why she should not have been canceled. But I talked know just her brand and her following and her base and what went wrong. She had claims of grooming and this predatory behavior with extensive media coverage. I mean, certainly on social media, it really affected her career negatively. And so many people were following along on this one.

Molly McPherson [00:23:57]:
If there was really, like a person who truly defined what I do in my job, it was calling Ballinger. So you can check out that episode in the show notes as well. All right. My number one download of the mean, not only was it your favorite by downloads, it was my favorite because I had so much fun. But this episode, oh, my goodness. Leaps and bounds. The number one downloaded episode of mine. And that's episode 267.

Molly McPherson [00:24:28]:
Blind gossip pr trick or Truth with guests TikTok's Kyle Marissa Roth, whom I love. I absolutely love her to death. We had so much fun. Just here's a taste of how it all began. Kyle Marissa Roth, who I call KMR. I am so excited to speak with you on this podcast.

Speaker D [00:24:50]:
Welcome.

Molly McPherson [00:24:51]:
Excited, too. Yes. Okay. Full disclosure, though. You and I have been talking for about, I don't know, 90 minutes now. We've already done the podcast.

Speaker D [00:25:00]:
Hi, Molly. We literally just gave each other deep dives on each other's love.

Molly McPherson [00:25:05]:
Know. We know everything about each other now. Yes. What we've established is Molly likes men.

Speaker D [00:25:17]:
Kyle usually does not. Sometimes she does. Molly didn't know that I was queer, which is just.

Molly McPherson [00:25:24]:
I didn't. That's a revelation.

Speaker D [00:25:26]:
That is a revelation. But I respect that about you, that you were just so focused on what was coming out of my mouth that you didn't even think about whether or not I liked.

Molly McPherson [00:25:37]:
Do you get a sense of where we were going there? But we discussed public relations strategies, publicity, but also blind gossip. And a lot of people dismiss what it is. And if you don't know what it is here, just take a listen. And actually, before you do that, define what blind gossip is. I get asked that question all the time.

Speaker D [00:25:58]:
A blind item. So that's the other thing is people are like, what percentage of your blind items are true? I'm like, the point is that I put a thing on the top and I write blind item underneath. So you guys know that a blind item is an unconfirmed piece of gossip.

Molly McPherson [00:26:10]:
Okay. Period.

Speaker D [00:26:11]:
That's it.

Molly McPherson [00:26:11]:
Okay.

Speaker D [00:26:11]:
It's like, literally. And it means that the person that the subject that it's about has not said, yes, this is true. Yes. It's basically, you know what I mean? And then usually also the blind item is that it doesn't reveal the person. But I have been reading these for so long that.

Molly McPherson [00:26:24]:
Duh. And then some are so obvious.

Speaker D [00:26:26]:
And I also get them direct from sources and they'll say, like, it's this person. It's like, no shit, it's this person. You know what I mean? To the person who doesn't see this shit 3000 times a day, every day.

Molly McPherson [00:26:34]:
They would have an. It's used in different realms, too. It's no different if you work for, like, you're at the state Capitol and you want to drop a dime on the other party and you know something. So you're going to go to a political reporter, you're going to drop something. It's no different. It's like a blind item. If you don't put your name, if it's anonymous, then it's a blind item. But if your name's behind it now you're just a background source.

Molly McPherson [00:27:03]:
It's off the record sourcing. It's all the same. But publicists do it as well, and they do it strategically. And that's what we talked about on this episode, how blind gossip is used as a pr strategy tool. So if you want to check out that episode, it's 267. It's also in the show notes, but we also talking about Joe Jonas, Sophie Turner. I mean, that's really where Kyle and I really went off. But we talked about Johnny Depp and Amber Heard and Britney Spears, and we talked about the NFL, how they were brought in because Kyle gets so much backdoor information.

Molly McPherson [00:27:39]:
I look at the amount of information that I get behind the scenes in my dms. So when you're a known blind gossip creator, oh, my gosh, forget about it. I'm definitely having Kyle back and Kelsey Kyle back in 2024 because, well, not only did we have so much fun, but I want to explore deeper this idea of blind gossip. True, not true. And what is going on there. All right, everyone, those are the top five episodes of 2023 and what you can expect in 2024. So again, you're going to start hearing changes in production. I have a new producer on changes in promotion.

Molly McPherson [00:28:15]:
I'm going to be promoting the show. Also, I'm going to be highlighting one weekly story, but also doing my little news dumps for the week. And I definitely want you to check out my Patreon. It's PR confidential with Molly McPherson. So it's an exclusive online space for your questions, my answers about pr crisis, comms, cultural, pr, all of it. I have three tiers, one that's for the kind of the TikTok junkie, if you will. It's pop culture PR. I have lives live chats.

Molly McPherson [00:28:43]:
I usually start on TikTok Live, and then the live chat comes on over to Patreon. And I have a mid tier for pr professionals or aspiring pr professionals. I put a lot of my information that I'm doing with clients. I mean, protecting their privacy and being confident and also fully confidential with their information. But any lessons learned, the poll that I can pull out, I will put it in that tier and then also my professional tier. If you sign up for an annual membership, you can have monthly consulting with me. I kicked that off just last week. I had two calls back to back.

Molly McPherson [00:29:18]:
And if you sign up for that annual, you get a link and you can schedule a monthly call with me. So if you're dealing with an emerging issue or an ongoing issue, or if you want to just chat, comm or pr, definitely check out the Patreon account PR confidential with Molly McPherson and go to that annual membership in the professional tier. All right, everyone, that's all for this week on the podcast. Welcome to 2024. I'm so excited for this year. I'm excited for this podcast, excited for things that I have coming and doing and just, you know what? Life is great right now. I got a lot of great things going on professionally, personally, and I want to share them all with you. So thank you so much for being a part of this journey.

Molly McPherson [00:30:00]:
Whether you've just joined me today or this year, or if you're one of my ogs going all the way back, I thank you so much for listening. That's all I have for now. So bye for now, and we'll see you in the next episode.