The PR Breakdown with Molly McPherson

Betrayals, Backpedals, and Broadcast Blowups: This Week in Reputation Damage

• www.mollymcpherson.com • Episode 315

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This week delivered a crash course in reputational damage. From a celebrity divorce to a DOGE(Y) dodge, and newsroom blowback, this episode highlights five real-time PR failures that exposed deeper internal fractures.

Mentioned in this episode:

  • Hugh Jackman & Deborra-Lee Furness: When a “conscious uncoupling” narrative veers into betrayal
  • Jeff Bezos & Lauren Sánchez: The media quote provided about their pre-wedding press tour. Previous episode for context: (Houston, Gayle King and Crew Have a Problem: Blue Origins PR Free Fall)
  • Elon Musk: His pivot away from Trump raises eyebrows. 
  • Jake Tapper: CNN’s anchor (and one crisis communicator) faces the heat from the release of Original Sin. 
  • Delta Airlines: A viral in-flight moment that struck the wrong chord. 


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© 2025 The PR Breakdown with Molly McPherson

Molly McPherson:

Betrayal billionaires and a broadcast anchor caught between truth and timing and a lot of angry people. So we had a lot of headlines last week and a lot of reputations that were on the line, including mine. Hey there, welcome to the PR Breakdown Podcast. I'm your host, molly McPherson, and this week I'd like to talk about a number of PR crises I spotted last week. If you follow me online, you know that I spend more time on the app Substack On Fridays. I like to hop on and highlight the PR fails or face plants of the week, so I'd like to highlight a couple of these fails that I saw from last week and introduce the segment to you so you can start looking for them as well.

Molly McPherson:

The first person who I spoke about last week is someone who comes up frequently in my lives. I'm talking about the very talented Hugh Jackman. He's been going through a divorce since 2023 from his wife, deborah Lee Furness. When they met years ago, it was Deborah who was the bigger celebrity at the time when their joint statement first came out in September 2023, exclusively shared with People magazine. It said, quote we have been blessed to share almost three decades together as husband and wife in a wonderful, loving marriage. Our journey now is shifting and we have decided to separate, to pursue our individual growth.

Molly McPherson:

But what surprised me was the news I heard this week. There was news that was revealed in January that Hugh Jackman was spending time with Sutton Foster. They both starred in Music man together on Broadway and it was interesting. In today's live one of the members of the community, chris he, said that a friend of his worked on the Music man and said that there was no indication whatsoever that there was anything going on between these two. Again, this is secondhand, thirdhand information coming here. Again, this is second-hand, third-hand information coming here. Do with it what you will, but that tracks to me. It absolutely tracks their friendship. When we saw images from it seemed a little staged. There's always photographs. They're always holding hands, they're always laughing, they're always having so much fun together. So in People magazine it was updated May 28th, so this was last week.

Molly McPherson:

This is the headline Deborah Lee Furness says breakdown of Hugh Jackman. Marriage is a profound wound that cuts deep. Quote my heart and compassion goes out to everyone who has traversed the traumatic journey of betrayal, hasn't been in there for two years. It was on May 23rd that Furness officially filed for divorce and that statement about betrayal, that's harsh. That doesn't do Hugh Jackman any favors. Another line in the statement, quote however, I believe in a higher power and that God or the universe, whatever you relate to, as your guidance, is always working for us, end quote. That's a beautiful line. I really like that. That belief, she said, has, quote, helped me navigate the breakdown of an almost three-decade marriage. So it really sounds like now this once amicable separation is not so amicable anymore.

Molly McPherson:

Hugh Jackman is in a bit of a pickle right now because this would be the time that he would typically lean on his buddy, ryan Reynolds, for some planned paparazzi shots where the two of them would be together. They'd be laughing, they'd be joking, they'd be appearing somewhere, they'd be on social media, there would be some coordinated event that they would get press around and that would take a lot of the steam out of something that Deborah was saying. But this is not a good look for Hugh. So it is curious to see what happened in this marriage. Now, again at this channel. I do not wish ill will on anyone. Everyone goes through problems, whether they're celebrities or they're mere mortals like us walking around the earth. We want everyone to be happy. However, just pay attention to what Hugh Jackman's going to be doing in the next couple weeks to deflect from this particular crisis.

Molly McPherson:

Reasons One they did show up in the algorithm. Not that I was going to talk about them because they tend to show up in my algorithm, I think, from a generation point of view, similar ages. That might be one reason, but it was an email request from a reporter from a UK magazine a big, high gloss, high end one who wanted me to provide a quote. She wanted to interview me about Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez. My somewhat immediate reply was I'm sorry, I just don't have time due to work. What I really wanted to say was I'm sorry, I just don't want to take the time to think about Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez. However, I paused on it for a moment and I thought she's asking me about the psychology of Jeff Bezos, and lately in my work I've really paid attention to the psychology of people and why they do the things they do, and I do that in my work, so naturally it's going to think about it. I did talk about their Blue Origin space flight recently, how I felt about that space flight. I'll include a link in the show notes to that episode.

Molly McPherson:

But Bezos and his very phallic-looking spacecraft I think gives us tremendous insight into what he thinks as a male. But let's just say I don't think it's a reach to assume that Jeff Bezos is always trying to flaunt more of a manly, macho, rich guy, tech bro king of the world-esque type of a vibe. He's the world's third richest man. I see him as someone who is in a constant battle for the top spot of the world's richest man. The question that the reporter asked me was this Hi, molly, I hope you're really well.

Molly McPherson:

I'm writing a piece on the Bezos wedding for this magazine and would love a couple of lines of insight from you to include, if at all possible. One thing I'm riveted by is their visibility. For years I never knew what Jeff Bezos really looked like, but they are conducting their relationship in such a public way, and then they talk about hanging out with the Kardashians, the red carpet appearances. I would love to hear your thoughts on why they are being so public about their life when presumably they could very easily be entirely discreet about everything if they wanted to. What are they gaining from the publicity? What does anyone gain from publicity? Okay, I'd like to share with you the quote that I wrote for that reporter, because, psychologically, we all know what's going on with Jeff Bezos, right, we all know. So here's my quote Relevance is the new wealth, and headlines are its currency. If Jeff Bezos can't be the world's richest man, he can try to be the most photographed one.

Molly McPherson:

The relationship with Lauren Sanchez is being sold to the public as romantic, but what they're really selling is a spectacle. Together, they are trying to co-brand as an A-list power couple. Bezos has money to buy almost anything, but not respect. That has to be earned. What the public sees is a couple hustling for relevance capital. Jeff Bezos he's in his 50s. So is Lauren Sanchez.

Molly McPherson:

Someone on the live from last week said I don't think anyone wants to see people that age parade around, and when I first read that I thought I'm that age, but then she said I'm 58 years old and I don't want to see anyone. So I love that comment, but that is what they're doing. They're parading around at Lauren Sanchez's Bachelorette. Kim Kardashian, kris Jenner, katy Perry, eva Longoria these are four people who I would classify as a pay-for-play type people. They get paid to show up places. So that is Bezos and Sanchez as we ramp up to their wedding, which is going to be held in June in Venice, italy. My prediction we're going to see a lot of celebrities there, but Jeff Bezos, no doubt, is footing the bill for every celebrity to show up at their wedding.

Molly McPherson:

All right, the next person who had a tough week, elon Musk, breaking up with the hand that fed him, that would be President Donald Trump. Beautiful bill, he called it a big, beautiful deficit balloon and he also voiced frustration that clean energy incentives were stripped under the same administration he once backed financially and politically. Elon Musk has been shunned by the administration and now he's feeling it, and certainly the Tesla stock prices have felt it as well. Now, since he's left this week, prices have felt it as well. Now, since he's left this week, the stock prices have bumped up a bit. This screenshot that I have from May 30th it was sitting at $359, but it was much, much lower. It was trending much lower while he was going through a lot of that bad press. But from a PR perspective, he's had a rough go because he put everything into President Trump. Electing President Trumpted by Doge was gutted to a point where they couldn't successfully collect money because of taxes during the tax season. So it was not an effort that went well for Elon Musk and he's still going to struggle from a PR standpoint.

Molly McPherson:

And the next person I want to highlight was someone I highlighted last week on the podcast and that's Jake Tapper. I mentioned, I read or listened to his book Original Sin that he wrote along with Politico's Alex Thompson though you wouldn't know that, because Jake Tapper is getting all the hits and he's taking heavy hits and there was certainly a lot of backlash towards him for being a working journalist hyping his book for CNN, where he works, hyping his book as well. A lot of people didn't like it. I have opinions on it. I took those opinions to social media, which is always dangerous. I showed a clip last week from the Megyn Kelly podcast. Jake Tapper appeared on that. Some people said he was doing that to attract the right the conservative right Fair argument, because that is the audience of Megyn Kelly and he knew that likely a lot of Republicans would want to read that book because it puts Joe Biden in a horrible light. But oh, megyn Kelly gutted him on that show. He definitely had media training. He definitely was prepared for a lot of the backlash, but I don't think Jake Tapper was expecting so much backlash because people there are just so many people took so many different issues with the reason why he wrote the book.

Molly McPherson:

And the reason why I know this is because I posted a follow-up social media commentary. Take on Jake Tapper. I said, wow, I'm entering my Kitty Wampus phase of social media commentary. Take on Jake Tapper. I said, wow, I'm entering my Kitty Wampus phase of social media. Because I posted a Megyn Kelly clip and everybody came at me about Jake Tapper. They were accusing me of being a sellout to my values. They accused me of defending Tapper. They accused me of all sorts of things oh, that I was supporting Trump, and all these things. My takeaway from this is wow, jake Tapper definitely got a lot of backlash, but the backlash came from a lot of people on the extreme radical left because they feel that if you're going to write a book about someone, you should be writing about Trump and what's going on in the White House.

Molly McPherson:

Now, that's fair. I totally agree. That's fair. But I look at things from a journalistic point of view. I also look at it from a media point of view and I also look at it from a realistic point of view. Cnn is not considered a news station to me anymore. I'm sorry CNN. They're an entertainment cable network that happens to tell news.

Molly McPherson:

I believe that a lot of journalists out there not just believe. I know for a fact that journalists are required to be relevant, they're required to get clicks, they're required to be in headlines. They are getting pressure to be seen in other places, mostly online. It helps CNN to have one of their anchors have a book out there and talking about the book. It helps when reporters have a story and then everybody's chit-chatting about the stories Doesn't matter if it's cable television or local television. I know this Social media currency is the currency in journalism nowadays. Is that a little sad? Yeah, but there's a mutual beneficial relationship happening there as well. You can still find really good news out there, which is great, and you can find it online. But you cannot deny that the pressure isn't there. It is, but even more.

Molly McPherson:

Here's my take on Tapper and the reason why I'm not incredibly agitated over Tapper. One, I just get it. This is the environment that we're in. But two, this is what I said on TikTok. Take a listen. But my perspective as someone who works on the inside of these crises, the messaging meltdowns that happen and the ego, the hubris and the narcissism like why these things implode. That's why the book interests me. It's what happened on the inside that interests me. It would be like going after Woodward and Bernstein and saying, yeah, hold them in. Mitchell, nixon, you guys are good.

Molly McPherson:

But damn these journalists. The journalism, media industry has changed so much. Nowadays, I think every journalist, they're all for themselves. Their job is to get as many clicks and relevance as they possibly can. That's the currency. So Tapper is no different than me or any other person you know. On social media, everyone's a content creator. So that's just my opinion on that. But I totally get it. The lines of journalism and ethics totally get that.

Molly McPherson:

And there's this for all the people who are criticizing that Jake Tapper didn't do a story on Trump. How can you criticize a journalist for all the people criticizing Jake Tapper for doing a story on Biden? You then would have to criticize anyone who does a book about Trump, because if you're going to be thrilled that someone is going to write a hit piece on President Trump, then you have to say the same thing about Biden. That's journalism, that's the economy of media. I understand the frustration, but it's the attack and, believe me, I went through it. If the taste that I got of it, I can't imagine what Jake Tapper is going through right now. His ratings on his program sunk because of it. So that is the reason why I'm adding him to my list of PR fails for the week, because he is getting criticized across the political spectrum. He's accused by conservatives of covering Biden, mocked by media peers for the book's rollout and questioned by Democrat for his timing and choices. All right, everyone. And now I have one last PR fail.

Molly McPherson:

I happened to notice on Reddit people talking about a viral video about Delta Airlines. So because I fly Delta frequently, as a matter of fact, I'm hopping on a flight in two days, this viral video caught my eye. It was a young girl singing a song from Moana on the flight PA system. My immediate reaction as someone who flies all the time I do not appreciate when flight attendants make jokes and let's sing happy birthday and let's do this and whatever. I don't love it. I understand it. I'm all for joy, but flying is joyless to me. So to try and make it not so much is just painful for me. If I were a flight attendant, if I were a pilot, that's how I would approach every single flight. We don't know everyone's story on here. The flight was delayed, at least according to social media, by four hours, flying into Orlando. So you know there were kids on that flight as well. So there was a lot of angst on that flight and that a flight attendant would allow an 11-year-old to get up and, instead of me explaining it, take a listen.

Molly McPherson:

A Delta Airlines spokesperson told Newsweek. Quote we appreciate the customer sharing her talents and apologize to our customers for the delay in their travels. End quote have you ever been in a relationship with someone? They do something wrong and then they apologize, but they don't apologize for what they did wrong? That's what, exactly what this quote is. It is so bad it actually makes me think this is a fake response. That's how bad of a response this is. They're trying to be cute instead of contrite, which is what they need to be.

Molly McPherson:

Probably would not have had an official statement. I'll just say that I probably would have just let it go. Are you with me on this? Are you with me? Anyway, delta, as you heard in my social media post, delta Airlines came out with that statement. I was shocked that the only place that I saw that statement was in Newsweek, but this is an internal story, so I have to leave you with one lesson for talking about all these like celebrities and people in the news. Here's a lesson.

Molly McPherson:

If you work in any organization and you have anything to do with communication and this is straight from my work, I did this week in my job, I really did this Remember this Internal problems cause external problems. If you are dealing with an external crisis, I guarantee you you are already dealing with an internal crisis. I promise you this. So for Delta, this is an external crisis because it is viral on social media. It may not be anymore now that it's a week later or a couple days later. Media it may not be anymore now that it's a week later or a couple days later. But internally, I know there are a ton of flight attendants who are dying to know who the flight attendants were on that flight. I know it and people were trying to figure it out at the time of this recording. There's already a memo in the inbox of Delta employees, or at least Delta flight crew. It's just my prediction.

Molly McPherson:

All right, everyone. That's all for this week on the PR Breakdown. Thanks so much for listening. As I said from the beginning, come on over to Substack. Check me out there. The community is fantastic. That's where I do extended commentary that you usually hear on the podcast each week. All right, everyone have a great week. Bye for now.

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