Photo: Shareif Ziyadat/Getty Images for Sean “Diddy” Conbs
A thousand bottles of baby oil. “Freak Offs” where participants were allegedly plied with drugs and coerced into having sex. Secret sex tapes rumored to feature unknown A-listers. Since Sean “Diddy” Combs was arrested and charged with sex trafficking last month, details about his allegedly debaucherous parties and abusive behavior have been slowly trickling out in the press — and celebrities in Diddy’s orbit seem to be scrambling to distance themselves from him.
Over the past few weeks, people on the internet have unearthed troves of photos and video footage connecting various celebs to the hip-hop impresario. It hasn’t been difficult: Big names from Ashton Kutcher to Martha Stewart to Leonardo DiCaprio have been photographed at Diddy’s infamous parties, and some have previously hinted at witnessing wild behavior at such events. Those in Diddy’s immediate circle, such as former protégés Usher and Justin Bieber, are under particularly intense scrutiny. Internet users recently resurfaced a 2016 Howard Stern interview in which Usher said “very curious things” took place at Diddy’s home when he lived there as a teenager. Afterward, Usher’s X account briefly disappeared, leading to speculation that he was trying to hide something. His posts have since reappeared, and he denied scrubbing his account, blaming it on a hack. Most celebrities who have been publicly linked to Diddy have not issued a statement since his arrest, leading many to ponder who may have known what, and when. (Diddy has also denied all allegations against him.)
In lieu of answers to these questions, we got in touch with someone who can provide an inside look at how celebrities may be managing the public-relations disaster unfolding in real time: Eddie the Media Trainer, a Vancouver-based PR and reputation management consultant. (He’s also a TikTok personality with 20,000 followers on the platform.) Eddie primarily works in corporate PR, not Hollywood PR, and he does not represent anyone associated with the Diddy case. But he has a great deal of experience in crisis communications, catering to clients who have been implicated in a high-profile controversy or scandal. He gave us a glimpse into how the celeb PR sausage is made, from the right — and wrong — time to speak out to the one thing celebrities should never, ever do.
Say you have a client who worked with Diddy, and the news of his arrest comes out. What’s your game plan? What do you do first?
You kind of have to look at it like a chess match. You’re trying to think a few steps ahead, like, Okay, if I do this right now, what is the chessboard going to look like later? And what are my options going to be? One thing that’s important to remember with this Diddy scenario: My sense is that we are in the first or second inning of something that is going to go on for a while, especially if this goes to trial. There’s going to be discovery, and all sorts of information is going to come out: sworn testimonies, victim statements. And so from a crisis-strategy standpoint, you basically want to say, “Okay, how do I keep as many options as possible, for as long as possible, so I can have as much control as possible?”
Is there a parallel you can think of in terms of a celebrity scandal that was similarly explosive? I was thinking, for instance, about the Harvey Weinstein case, of which we’re still dealing with the fallout.
It’s similar in that there are different levels of proximity to whatever crimes have taken place. There’s obviously Diddy, who’s at the center of it, but there are also people who were close to him. There are people who kind of knew him. There are people who maybe partied with him once or twice, and then there are some people who have never even met him, but maybe they made an offhand comment about him years ago.
Let’s play out a few different types of scenarios here. What would the crisis-comms plan be for someone who, say, had truly little connection to Diddy but just went to a few of his parties?
For now, be silent. Thinking about it strategically, what is the advantage to making a comment right now? I would say that there is none, and your goal is to distance yourself as much as possible from the center of the controversy, especially if you weren’t involved. Making a comment is more likely to just attract the kind of attention that you don’t want.
Does the plan change if they do know more than they should — if they were perhaps aware of illegal activity, if they were close enough that they saw something?
Yes — depending on what their legal liability would be. Let’s put it this way: If I had a client who was really close to Diddy and if there’s a good chance that they saw something or they were involved in something, I would sit down with that client and I would say, “Look, I’ll sign whatever NDA you want me to, but I need to know: What did you know? When did you know it? What did you see? What have you heard? And let’s sit down and game out. What is the best way to protect your reputation in this circumstance?” Now, if they were involved in actual criminality, they need to be talking to a lawyer, not a publicist, obviously.
What kinds of questions are typically asked in these meetings?
It’s kind of the same questions that a lawyer’s going to ask: “Tell me your story. How did you interpret what happened? Who was there? What did you notice? Who can verify what you’re saying?” Another thing that a good publicist will do is figure out the big picture: Where does this scandal fit into what’s going on broadly with the client? Do they have a movie coming out in the next two weeks or six months? How is this going to affect our ability to run our business normally?
Do you think celebrities should be taking down photos and videos with Diddy?
Generally, you should never be taking content down. You should never be taking down tweets. You should never be taking down posts. No. 1, the internet never forgets, and whatever copy of your tweet you think you have, everybody’s got a thousand other copies. No. 2, people notice, and you just come off not looking good.
Most celebrities have not made an official public statement, but there are some stories out there featuring quotes from “a source close to” a celebrity. What’s going on there?
If I’m betting money, that is a publicist who leaked that intentionally to the publication, and the celebrity is trying to distance himself from it. Now, I don’t know if that was the best strategy, because I think it keeps your name in the news cycle in the way that you don’t want it to be. However, it is possible that there is some sort of a movie exec behind the scenes going, “You need to get your name out of the story right away. We have a big movie coming out, and we don’t need you on the red carpet being asked this question or that question.” So in these cases, the PR team is trying to be proactive and say, “Hey guys, we have nothing to do with this. Leave us alone.”
There are some celebrities like Khloé Kardashian and Ashton Kutcher who have had to deal with resurfaced interviews talking about how crazy Diddy’s parties are. How should they handle it if an interview like that resurfaces?
They should stay quiet for now unless there’s momentum building up against them, or unless there’s a new season of the Kardashians coming out or something. In a week or two, everybody’s going to have seen it and they’re going to have moved on from it.
But what is the tipping point here? At what point do you talk to the press or issue a statement?
The answer is: never, depending on who you are and depending on what your involvement is. In Ashton Kutcher’s best-case scenario, this is a story for the next week or whatever. He doesn’t comment about it. It goes away, and nobody ever asks him about it again, and he never has to address it. It’s in his best interest to be silent.
Does social-media pressure change the calculus at all?
You monitor what people are saying in the comments, and it certainly is a factor, but I think that it’s not that big a priority in the overall scheme of things. Let’s put it this way: If you found the video clip on TikTok or on Instagram or on Facebook where Ashton Kutcher is talking about how amazing Diddy’s parties were, I would venture to bet that 50 percent of the people in the comments are going to say, “He should speak out. He should say something.” And 50 percent of his fans are going to defend him and say, “Nah, he didn’t do anything wrong.” So why does he have to say anything?
We’ve spent a lot of time talking about the reasons why celebrities should not speak. One thing we did not discuss is a pretty significant reason why they should speak, or may want to speak: Because they want to tell the truth, and they feel it is the right thing to do. And I would argue that, in some of these cases, it is morally the right thing to do to say something like what a lot of people said after Weinstein, basically: “Yes, I’d heard rumors of these types of behaviors, but I didn’t say or do anything about it because I didn’t know anything firsthand. In retrospect, I am ashamed of that, and I apologize to the victims.” Which I’m sure applies to a lot of people in Hollywood who are currently facing the pressure to speak out against Diddy. Do you think, in certain contexts, that’s the right move?
It can work, depending on the circumstances. First of all, it depends on the celebrity and what their existing reputation is with their audience. Are they the type to speak out about issues in the media usually? Or do they typically stay quiet? It’s important to be consistent here. Second, at a certain point, it becomes a question of the ongoing narrative. Are all of your contemporaries in Hollywood putting out statements like that? In that case, there might be some pressure to join them.
But generally they should keep their mouth shut.
It’s not to say don’t ever speak, but be strategic in how you choose to respond to these stories. You can always put out some sort of a statement or leak something or put out an Instagram post or whatever, but you can’t take that back.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Related
Celebrities Are Trying to Distance Themselves From DiddyAshton Kutcher and Diddy Go Way BackJustin Bieber Is Reportedly ‘Disturbed’ by Diddy’s Arrest
