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The PR Breakdown with Molly McPherson
The PR Breakdown reveals the moves behind the mess. Crisis communication expert Molly McPherson dissects the viral scandals, celebrity meltdowns, and corporate disasters dominating headlines to show you the strategic mistakes and desperate moves that destroy reputations - so you never make them yourself.
The PR Breakdown with Molly McPherson
From Phillies Ball Snatch to US Open Hat Grab: Outrage, Backlash, and Blowback Explained
Outrage isn’t new, but the way it plays out in 2025 feels like a full-time industry. This week, it’s Phillies fans brawling over a foul ball, a CEO swiping a signed hat at the US Open, Bruce Willis’ family facing judgment in a Diane Sawyer interview, and American Eagle cashing in on controversy with its headline-grabbing campaign.
Here’s the problem: every headline slaps the same word on these stories—backlash. But backlash and blowback aren’t the same thing. If you don’t know the difference, you’re missing the real story.
In this episode, I break down:
- The Phillies “Ball Snatch” dad who turned a viral mess into a lesson in staying calm.
- The US Open “Hat Grab” CEO who folded fast—and why it saved his business.
- Bruce Willis’ family’s media strategy, turning online judgment into strategic storytelling.
- American Eagle’s outrage marketing proves that some brands script backlash into their budget.
- Why the age of the public apology is over—and what leaders are doing instead.
The September takeaway? Backlash reveals character. Blowback reveals strategy. And knowing which one you’re seeing could be the difference between chaos and control.
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If outrage had a season, it would be late summer 2025. Tennis matches, baseball games, a Diane Sawyer interview. Honestly, I didn't realize Diane Sawyer was still working at ABC News and that jeans ad it's back. All of it has been caught in the churn and every headline, it seems, carries the same word backlash. But let's get something straight. My opinion, backlash and blowback aren't the same thing. Let me tell you what I told people on stage last week at a keynote in Columbus, ohio. There is a difference and it makes a big difference to news coverage and reputation.
Molly McPherson:It's the week of September 8th 2025, a week that a crisis manager like myself gets herself organized because I'm bracing for the hit. September is the time where we see a lot of stories that cause a lot of reputational damage because they've been planned. Late summer is when we see a lot of viral stories. There's a newsy overlap between viral stories that take off in the summer. Think Astronomer, american Eagle. Taylor Swift appears on a podcast and that podcast explodes and then she's engaged. Oh my gosh, double gasp. That time of year allowed for a story like that to overtake the news cycle and also the social media cycle. But let's look at the week in backlash First, did you see me on the Today Show last week?
News:Dr Beryl trying to win back its loyal base by adding a taste of Southern comfort back to the menu.
Molly McPherson:And when the public rises up around a cultural idea or an identity like Cracker Barrel, it could have a dramatic effect on the profits. What you don't watch morning news anymore. Sadly it's going down, but they did a great story about Cracker Barrel. They asked me late in the day to record a piece that would air in a package the next morning. Even if you watched it or not, what you didn't hear was my best soundbite where I explain that backlash is values-driven and blowback is more strategic, and knowing the difference is the only way to understand what you're actually watching.
Molly McPherson:Let's look at stories from this past week. Case one the Phillies ball snatcher. I know you saw the viral video. It was Marlins versus the Phillies. The baseball drops right in front of a female Phillies fan wearing a Phillies jersey. She's next to, I believe, her husband and it looks like a younger adult son. They're reaching down to get the ball. Meanwhile dad scurries over, picks up the ball and then runs back and gives it to his son. Then the woman jumps down, scurries to the dad and gives him a piece of her mind. Enter the villain. The woman crawls over the seat and storms down to the dad, insists that the ball belongs to her. The dad puts his hands up, just puts it in the glove. You took it from me. You took it from me.
News:You took it from me. You took it from me.
Molly McPherson:She gets booed and then she flips off the crowd so dangerous. I think what we have here is a case of a dad who understands baseball culture and a woman who clearly does not. Now I saw this viral clip on a weekend trip with three of my kids. We went to Wrigley to visit my daughter, kate, who secured us with awesome seats. She's in her first year of a job in sales in the developmental sales program. We had an amazing day at Wrigley. It was Cubs versus Nats. We thought for sure the Cubs would beat the Nats.
Molly McPherson:Did not happen and, as a side note, jeff Garland from Curb your Enthusiasm threw out the opening pitch, which was really curious because he didn't throw it and I had said I posted this to Instagram. I was asking my kids like, is this a bit Like? What is he doing? Immediately we all said like hey, wasn't he canceled? And then we had to figure out why Jeff Garland was canceled. But he didn't want to throw the ball, so he did this kind of bit where he just tosses it like he walks up to home plate. It was odd, it was a curious move, but anyway, while that was happening, we were watching the viral clip about what happened at the Phillies game in Miami and there was something about that video. I couldn't hear the sound, but there was something in the nonverbals that I saw that kind of stood out, and so I had to ask my son. I'm like, well, wait a minute, here I see something.
Molly McPherson:And we discussed the rules. Anybody's game, you know. When a ball goes into the stands, it's anybody's ball. And the other unwritten rule, like there's an unwritten rule in baseball, when a baseball goes in the stands, anybody can grab it. And then the other unwritten rule if the ball is anywhere near a kid or an adult gets it. You kind of give the ball to the kid.
Molly McPherson:I will say this from the beginning the woman was wrong. There was no doubt she was wrong. The dad great move to hand that ball back to the kid. Why that event was amplified more, don't get me wrong. The dad great move to hand that ball back to the kid. Why that event was amplified more, don't get me wrong. This woman was wrong, but I understand what ticked her off. First of all, the ball comes in. They're clearly going for it. So she has an expectation that she's getting that ball. He also knew baseball rules that he was allowed to snatch the ball for his son. Of course he snatched the ball.
Molly McPherson:When emotion hijacks your rational thinking, it hijacked the woman, there's no doubt about it. It hijacked the dad. He saw a ball. He's like I'm getting that ball. But then the dad calmed himself and this is where I give him tremendous props. He calmed himself instead of getting overly reactive, because we know there's plenty of baseball dad self for the sake of his son and people, parents who control their emotions for the sake of their kids those are the people who deserve kudos, in my opinion.
Molly McPherson:But that woman, when she walked back and she gave everyone the finger, I thought this woman has not been in enough ballparks. She does not know what she's doing. The outrage. So that's where I ran to my media partner, muckrack. I had to scour all the articles out there. I had to watch the video spread and see the feedback comment sections. They exploded.
Molly McPherson:Strangers online started sleuthing to figure out who she was and what I find fascinating. People still don't know who she is and I have to give credit here, I actually don't know online because I was looking at Muckrak. I don't know if she's been outed yet. Honestly, maybe by the time of this recording. She will have been outed. But I like news outlets if they're not outing people, because personally I don't like vigilantism, I really don't. This woman got beat up enough. She got it in the stadium and she got it in the ballpark and she got it through viral footage. I don't love outing this woman because her life will be just overrun and destroyed because of an emotional moment, and people need to understand when the emotion takes over. It's what you do with it.
Molly McPherson:Now this dad has been doing the media rounds Immediately.
Molly McPherson:He spoke with NBC 10 in Philadelphia and explained that he was attending the game with his wife, daughter and son to mark the birthday. He told the outlet quote we were just trying to make this week about him. I felt like super dad, putting that ball in his glove and giving him a hug. I wouldn't be surprised if Drew works in communication media or he's just a smart guy. He knows how to put together a really good soundbite. He explained that he's still in disbelief that she walked down there like that, so framing her as crazy. He instead wanted to focus more on just trying to set an example of how to de-escalate a situation in front of my son. I gotta hand it to Drew. That's a great quote and in the video altercation the woman you could hear her say that was ours, so you know where the outrage came from. Day to day she's probably a decent person, but in that moment she wanted that ball. Now his last line left a mark. He says, quote I hope that ball means a lot to her.
News:Drew passed the viral test.
Molly McPherson:Everybody thinks that he is a hero. Kudos to the Marlins. They went down immediately, gave him a gift bag, even though he's a Phillies fan. Then, behind the scenes, we see footage of Dave Dombrowski. He's the president of baseball operations and someone who I spoke to in line at Boston Logan Airport when he was headed down for spring training and I was headed to Florida for something else. Then Harrison Bader, the player who made the home run, gave him a signed bat, and other people tried to profit off of it as well. Marcus Limonis he was the star of the Prophet. He offered the kid and his family a trip to the World Series. Oh, and he's throwing in an RV as well, because he's the CEO of Camping World.
Molly McPherson:You're going to see a lot of that happening, but these viral moments are what the news lives for. It's what social media lives for. It's what social media lives for. They love it because it taps into outrage, and outrage is backlash, just like what happened with case two, the hat grab. It's another adult sports fan snatching a souvenir from a kid. We're back in New York now. A polis tennis star wins the match at the US Open. A kid we're back in New York now A polis tennis star wins the match at the US Open, tries to give a signed hat to a boy in the crowd.
Molly McPherson:Enter the villain. Before the kid can reach out, bam CEO snatches it from him. The video blows up. The outrage was swift. The CEO eventually folded because everybody had to figure out who this guy was.
Molly McPherson:It's a viral moment. Late August they're going to find out who he is. He sends the hat back and he apologizes publicly and calling it quote extremely poor judgment and a painful but necessary lesson in humility. That was a good call because that guy's business was struggling. Plus, there was another Polish CEO who runs a very similar business who was attacked, whose business was attacked online. This business owner told the New York Times that he had a deluge of phone calls that were so intense he couldn't cope and his Google ratings cratered. This backlash can cause serious, serious problems. That's why this CEO writing an apology was smart. He needed to do that. He said quote I'm an honest entrepreneur who's been building his image for so many years and in two days it was crushed to dust. That's a great quote. He was humble, he was showing humility. That was a good move. Again, it's that emotional, intensive moment. You see a lot of it happening at sports where a person many times souvenir hunters or just people feel like they're owed something and they want it. But backlash works where accountability is missing. You either own it or you double down and say nothing. The Polish CEO fan he chose the former because the public reaction made the other choice look smaller and meaner. Here's another quick case of backlash that really kind of wasn't, but it was in the story.
Molly McPherson:I was reading a headline this morning, actually the day before this recording about Bruce Willis and Demi Moore, case three, and this one is not well known and didn't go as viral. But I went back to Muckrack to look for the articles to see the point of view. It was an interview with ABC News with Diane Sawyer interviewing Emma Hemming Willis. That is Bruce Willis's wife. She's much younger, she's a former model and they have young kids. But of course more people are familiar with Bruce Willis's first wife, demi Moore. Demi Moore also did an interview with Oprah.
Molly McPherson:There's a lot of stories out there about Bruce Willis's declining health and these are good stories because they're really shining a light on his health. So clearly they have publicists trying to keep this story in the news and it's understandable and there's a value attached to it, because Bruce Willis is suffering from a progressive disease called frontotemporal dementia. It's a brain disorder. They're giving a lot of publicity to this disorder and that can always help. And that's what things that she mentioned was the backlash, because people were judging her for putting Bruce Willis in a home to care for him as opposed to being home with her and the young kids. One of the quotes that she said during the interview was that Willis was in great health physically but his brain is failing him. That's just a great quote. I like it because it's good framing.
Molly McPherson:And she mentioned that there was a lot of intense backlash on the internet judging her for putting him in a home. They used backlash quite nimbly by using blowback as a means to explain why he's in a home. Backlash is when people emotionally react to something, but planning for blowback can be quite strategic, which is what I think this story with Diane Sawyer and also Demi Moore speaking with Oprah. They use it quite well all of it, and it's for the greater good. The same blueprint is there with American Eagle. Now I've talked about American Eagle at length. I did a CNN hit a couple weeks ago. That story ran for days.
News:And we're joined now by crisis and reputation strategist Molly McPherson. All right, Molly, you, in a TikTok response to the ad, say everything is choreographed for a reason. So help us understand the big question. Do you think American Eagle expected a big reaction?
Molly McPherson:Absolutely. This is the modern formula for outrage marketing. You spark debate, you drive engagement, you ride the wave and then, when the dust settles, american Eagle gets the clicks, the coverage and also the cash. Again, it happened in August, but it was strategic. American Eagle knew that they were going to get blowback. They were prepared for the blowback. They rolled out the Sidney Sweeney campaign that lit up the internet. That outrage wasn't a mistake, it was strategy. They knew it would rile people up and they braced for it and they cashed in on it. Even now, the second week of September on Muckrack I'm looking at the articles 20,000 articles covered this controversy in just one month. This is the advantage also of being a brand. Unlike the raging Phillies fan or a US Open CEO, american Eagle didn't have to face the center of the fire as a person. It's just a logo. It's just a brand. A logo doesn't cry or feel shame. It monetizes. That's blowback. Controversy is currency. Here's the bigger picture. This is why I think apologies have changed dramatically.
Molly McPherson:A couple weeks ago, I did an interview with Eleanor Hawkins. She's the editor behind Axios, is the communicator. If you work in communications, I highly recommend you subscribe to it. Eleanor is wonderful. She covers everything in comms. She wrote a story about the age of the public apology is over and her argument is that the evidence is everywhere. And she talked about American Eagle, the woman's dating app T didn't apologize when user data leaked. The crowd strike when it grounded the airlines. This was what two years ago and I was stuck in the middle of it. They left out the oh sorry, and at that time it didn't work. But now you can get away with it. Look at Astronomer with the kiss cam. They didn't apologize. They handed over a bucket load of money to Ryan Reynolds. So I told Eleanor in that article, quote People are simply tired of the outrage cycles and cancellation campaigns.
Molly McPherson:The public is splitting because they don't want to jump on someone else's grievance bandwagon. So the translation an apology isn't guaranteed to calm the storm. Sometimes it makes it worse. So leaders are testing silence, defiance and private outreach instead. That's what I was telling her in this interview and that's honestly what I'm telling a lot of my clients as well. We don't have to rush to apologize. I have a client right now dealing with to do that viral apology video and I said no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. That's just going to make it worse. We're going to ride it out and we're going to do something different over here.
Molly McPherson:So here's the September lesson and what this month of outrage teaches us that backlash is values driven. It's real people reacting when someone crosses a moral line. That's why a woman leapt over seats and chased a baseball dad. But blowback is strategic. That baseball dad knew that that woman was going to get blowback. That's what helped him reel in his anger. What is more triggering than someone coming to attack you in front of your child? But that dad braced for not his blowback, her blowback. That's why it was smart.
Molly McPherson:Blowback. Is that outrage sometimes manufactured, designed to drive clicks and shares and brand awareness. And here's the kicker you can spot character in how people respond to backlash. Do they apologize, defend, deny? That's revealing. But with blowback the reaction is already scripted. The outrage was factored into the budget. So next time you see backlash splashed across the headline, stop and ask are we witnessing a values clash or watching someone's playbook unfold, because one tells you who people really are and the other tells you how well they know the game. That's all for this week on the podcast. If you want to see a little bit more of a dive on this. You can just follow me on the Substack app or you can join the membership, where I have monthly trainings and lives where we break it all down in the vault. In other words, what's said in the vault stays in the vault. That's all for this week. Thanks for listening. Bye for now.
