The PR Blog

NBC broadcaster Bob Costas knows how to get attention. Yesterday he decided to opine about the Jovan Belcher tragedy to advocate for gun control. Bob Costas generally offers opinions that are popular with the public. He’s been the sports commentator version of a populist politician, expressing positions that the vast majority of the public typically agree with. Not this time when Bob Costas fired off his mouth on gun control. Bob Costas used his halftime segment on NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” to talk gun control following the murder-suicide of Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher. Belcher shot and killed Kasandra Perkins, his girlfriend and mother of his child, multiple times and then killed himself. Here’s what Bob...

‘Clueless’ star Stacey Dash jumped into the political waters and sent a Tweet about her personal decision to vote for Mitt Romney, the Repubican candidate. The Stacey Dash Tweet was well under 140 characters, but boy did ‘Clueless’ star Stacey Dash cause an uproar. ‘Clueless’ star Stacey Dash appeared on CNN’s ‘Piers Morgan’ and said she was “shocked and saddened” by the response from her Tweet. Here’s what happened. On Sunday ‘Clueless’ star Stacey Dash Tweeted: “Vote for Romney. The only choice for your future.” Not only did the Tweet generate lots of feedback from the public, she also got a not-so-nice response from fellow actor Samuel L. Jackson:...

You know how you don’t talk politics at Thanksgiving, especially in an election year? You know how all those smart wives remind their husbands that the house they’re going to dinner are staunch democrats and not to comment about President Obama? When it comes to a divisive topic like gay marriage, Chick-fil-A’s president should know better than to chime in with his opinion. Where was his filter? Did he lack one internally? Did his people ever advise him not to make a boneheaded move like speak publically about gay marriage? My guess is this and I believe I am right: Everyone in his inner circle knew exactly how he felt about gay marriage. People with such strong opinions don’t hide them that well. And I am certain he spoke up about...

Now Justin Bieber is in the news again not because of a new album. But because a Los Angeles city councilman saw Bieber driving faster than 100 miles per hour on a city street last Friday and believes the teen pop star should be arrested and not just ticketed. “As I watched, I was anticipating a crash,” Los Angeles City Councilman Dennis Zine, a former veteran police officer told ABC News. “It was chaos. Total willful disregard for people on the roadway.” When police caught up with him, Bieber said he was being chased by paparazzi. All Bieber got was a ticket. And the paparazzo pursuing Bieber may be charged criminally, according to a report in L.A. Times. Though this incident is clearly a detour from music, Bieber is getting a positive...

Problems for Dr. Drew following revelation he was on the Glaxo payroll, recommended the company’s drug, but never disclosed that fact to the public. Dr. Drew Pinsky, the popular host on HLN and national radio host known to millions as “Dr. Drew,” trumpeted the use of the antidepressant Wellbutrin back in 1999 on his radio show–but he failed to mention that he was on the payroll of the makers of that drug, GlaxoSmithKline. He told listeners that Wellbutrin ”may enhance or at least not suppress sexual arousal” as much as other antidepressants do which is why he prescribes it. That’s quite a ringing endorsement. Turns out Glaxo paid Dr. Drew, but he did not mention that little, and-very-pertinent-fact. The...

After years of being the reigning champs, NBC’s TODAY show is undergoing a cataclysmic change. The network’s most profitable program is no longer dominating in the ratings. And this morning, new co-anchor Ann Curry took the fall for it and Ann Curry said goodbye. Is it entirely her fault? Who really knows. But that is not for me to say. In situations when lots of money is on the line people look out for themselves. That means the highest level of executives at NBC News were forced to do something. Or at least give the impression that they are doing something to “fix” the program. Make no mistake about it: NBC and NBC News are in a PR crisis and internal crisis and the viewers and employees are impacted by this. Ann Curry is taking the fall...