by Tony Shelton, Shelton & Caudle
Crisis communication is not just for big companies anymore. More than ever, it seems, there is such a thing as bad publicity for the famous.
So what’s a publicist to do? According to a recent report in Newsweek, get into “crisis publicity.” Think Britney Spears, Michael Richards, Don Imus and Isaiah Washington.
And they may soon have company.
On the same page as the interview with a celebrity publicist, there is a larger story about Raffaello Follieri, the now-former boyfriend of movie star Anne Hathaway. It seems he’s been arrested following some questionable real estate deals.
Hathaway reportedly dumped Follieri in June, after several negative media stories about him. Was it soon enough to keep from tarnishing her image? Maybe.
Newsweek quotes a spokesperson for Hathaway as saying, “’It’s unlikely we will ever comment.”
If Follieri goes to trial and it appears Hathaway either lost money in his schemes or introduced him to people who were later duped, the spotlight may return to the relationship between the two.
Hathaway may have to rethink the “no comment” from her publicist. If she doesn’t tell her side of the story, it’s likely somebody else will.
Tony Shelton is the President of Shelton & Caudle Communication Training & Crisis Counsel, a division of Vollmer Public Relations.
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