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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
Breaking Down the Media Statements: Kimmel, Trump, Tylenols Counterpunch
When three statements drop within the same hour, it’s not just news, it’s a case study.
- Disney walks back Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension with a vague, deflective release.
- Donald Trump grabs headlines in the Roosevelt Room, suggesting Tylenol in pregnancy raises autism risk — without evidence.
- Tylenol fires back fast with a direct, science-based denial.
In this episode, dissecting how each statement was crafted, what it reveals about the motives behind it, and why credibility — not spin — decides who wins the narrative.
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Two big stories dropped this week and they both happened at the same time. Monday late afternoon 3.44 pm, eastern Daylight Time. Just in. Jimmy Kimmel to be reinstated after suspension following Charlie Kirk's comments. Abc says 3.49,. Abc ends Jimmy Kimmel's suspension and his show will return Tuesday. 4.51 pm. Trump's autism announcement is underway. 4.56, just in. Trump suggests Tylenol during pregnancy can contribute to higher autism risk A link experts say is unproven. 5.01, trump announces FDA recommendations on Tylenol use. 5.02. Maternal Fetal Medicine Group says it's safe to use Tylenol in pregnancy. Oh, my goodness, that is whiplash of news stories.
Molly McPherson:Hey there, welcome to the PR Breakdown Podcast. I'm your host, molly McPherson, and I'm a little unprepared for this podcast. I already had something in the can. Then the announcement comes from the Walt Disney Company that Jimmy Kimmel is coming back. I hopped on social media right away, knowing full well I had to record this podcast. And just as I'm recording, I get another notification from the New York Times about what was happening at the White House. What was happening at the White House? That Donald Trump was making an announcement, with RFK Jr and Dr Oz on either side. Is that by design? Well, we don't know, but let's look at the evidence. Story one the Walt Disney Company and Jimmy Kimmel. So let's start with the Disney statement on bringing Kimmel back. As you know, quick rewind Last Monday, jimmy Kimmel Live. Kimmel reacted to the assassination of a conservative activist, charlie Kirk.
News Clip:He had some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it. You can see how hard the president is taking this.
Speaker 3:My condolences on the loss of your friend Charlie Kirk. May I ask sir, personally, how are you holding up over the last day and a half, sir? I think very good. And by the way, right there you see all the trucks. They've just started construction of the new ballroom for the.
News Clip:White House. Yes, he's at the fourth stage of grief construction he's at the fourth stage of grief construction.
Molly McPherson:That clip set everything off because by Wednesday, fcc chair Brendan Carr was publicly threatening ABC's affiliate licenses, nextar and Sinclair. Two massive station groups said they'd preempt the show and Disney, abc's parent company, decided to suspend Kimmel indefinitely. No surprise, it lit off a firestorm which was leading into the weekend. Rhetoric, strong rhetoric against the progressives, the left, liberals, democrats. This was a lot of posturing from a political point of view. But now we have, on Monday afternoon, disney puts out a statement where it is a complete backtrack on what they did with Jimmy Kimmel. Now, before I read the statement, I want to mention that last Friday I did a live on Substack. I tend to go on once a week minimum, usually on Fridays sometime in the morning between 9 am and noon, breaking down the big story of the week. It's a live chat. I want to get other people's opinion on it as well. We broke down what was happening with the whole Jimmy Kimmel situation.
Molly McPherson:Fcc chair Brendan Carr appeared on another right wing conservative who actually had more subscribers Benny Johnson than Charlie Kirk. You could look at his appearance on there and he was, I mean, essentially pressuring these station groups where they own a bunch of affiliates Now the next stars and the Sinclaircasting Companies of the world was trying to acquire Tango, which is another media group. So we have business there. We have money, which I always say about crisis, it always comes down to money. What he had to say with the pressure to these groups, brendan Carr replied back with a gif from the office of Steve Carell and Rainn Wilson's character, kind of like putting their hands up in the air. I mean, what a bizarre thing for an FCC chair to write back. But the outcry was strong to write back. But the outcry was strong and in this live we talked about there's going to be now boycotts against Disney, against Hulu, which was really hard because there's only murders in the building is on, and I love it this season, it's so good.
Molly McPherson:But I started reading some of the statements and one of the statements that I read I thought was so good. Let me pull a part of it. It's from the Writers Guild of America West and the Writers Guild of America East, one of the things that I mentioned. I didn't really see it anywhere in commentary or in the news so I could be off base on it, but it feeds into this kind of boycott-itis. That's out there. What happens when you trigger unions, when you trigger other groups? They mobilize and they mobilize together and that pressure builds up and people do things. And what do people do now? When they boycott and they want to make a stand, they tend to punch where it hurts and that's usually finances. So I think finances had something to do with Disney's decision. But this is part of the statement by both of these writer guilds.
Molly McPherson:Quote as a guild, we stand united in opposition to anyone who uses their power and influence to silence the voices of writers or anyone who speaks in dissent. If free speech applied only to ideas we like, we needn't have bothered to write it into the Constitution. What we have signed on to, painful as it may seem, painful as it may be at times, is the freeing agreement to disagree. Wow, I stated on that live. That's an excellent statement. It was so good and it's not surprising because it's from the Writers Guild, it's from writers.
Molly McPherson:But day by day, the buildup started happening on social media and I think the Walt Disney Company started to feel the pressure. Big names out there started to speak out against it as well. So now that leads us to the Walt Disney. When the notification appeared on my computer that ABC made this statement. I immediately looked for the statement. I wanted to read it right away and then hop on social media, because that first reading is where I get the gist of the statement. You can get the intent behind the statement. So I didn't want to read it or analyze it before I went on social media. So my social media response was really like a real response. I'm going to quickly read the statement and then let's look at some of the words that they used to see if that can help us discern what's really going on behind the scenes. So this statement was released by the Walt Disney Company late on Monday, september 22nd.
Molly McPherson:In the afternoon Last Wednesday we made the decision to suspend production on the show to avoid further inflaming a tense situation at an emotional moment for our country. It is a decision we made because we felt some of the comments were ill-timed and thus insensitive. We have spent the last days having thoughtful conversations with Jimmy and after those conversations we reached the decision to return the show on Tuesday. Now Disney did not say whether all ABC affiliates were going to bring back the show, because some of them balked about carrying Jimmy Kimmel live last week Sinclair that is, the broadcast group came out and said that they were going to air the Charlie Kirk memorial special on Friday and they flip-flopped and aired Celebrity Family Feud instead. So, in the theme of flip-flopping, let's break down this statement. So let's start with what they wrote at the beginning Quote to avoid further inflaming a tense situation at an emotional moment for our country that's deflection.
Molly McPherson:The problem wasn't Jimmy's words, they're saying, it was the national mood. The responsibility was spread outward. So don't look inward to us. We didn't do anything wrong. We didn't make a decision. We were just reacting to what was happening in the country, to the mood, and the mood, my dear listener, was created by you. It's their way of saying. It's your fault. You are part of the problem.
Molly McPherson:Another part of the statement we felt some of the comments were ill-timed and thus insensitive. Notice the hedging Not wrong, not misleading, not blasphemous, just ill-timed. Wow, that's minimizing, shrinking the offense down to optics. Ill-timed makes it sound like it was a calendar mistake or when we ran it on the show. And what is the right time? Like would Jimmy Kimmel be okay if he did it on Tuesday night or Wednesday night? And then to call it only insensitive? Their choice.
Molly McPherson:Abc, disney's choice to pull Kimmel created a firestorm. A firestorm is created over something that was just quote insensitive from late night television Wow, wow. Then, once they suspended him and they bring him back in under a week and this took place due to quote thoughtful conversations Can you imagine what those thoughtful conversations were like? I can imagine that, jimmy Kimmel. I saw Howard Stern make a comment on the air saying that he did not speak to Jimmy Kimmel about any of this, but he gave his opinion where he said I immediately canceled Disney Plus in support of Jimmy Kimmel. He and Jimmy Kimmel are really, really tight. So Howard Stern is going to defend Jimmy Kimmel. But also, howard Stern was speaking from a place where he had pressure over the years, not so much recently, but back in his heyday, back in the 90s. He was at war with the FCC. So he's the perfect foil for the government to come out and speak out again.
Molly McPherson:But this statement is really a wishy-washy, deflection, flip-flop statement. Either the suspension was an overreaction or the reinstatement was a retreat. Both can't be true. And Disney used we again and again. We made the decision. We felt we reached a decision. That's corporate fog. It hides who actually made the decision. There's no name attached to this statement from the Walt Disney Company. The only name mentioned is Kimmel, and not even Jimmy Kimmel or Jimmy Kimmel Live. They just say Jimmy. So this Kimmel statement wasn't about clarity. It was about optics, buying time and protecting the brand under political fire and also under financial pressure. Trump and Tylenol. Donald Trump speaking in the Roosevelt Room of the White House. He was flanked by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator, dr Mehmet Oz, to make this announcement.
Speaker 3:First, effective immediately, the FDA will be notifying physicians that the use of acetaminophen, which is basically commonly known as Tylenol, during pregnancy can be associated with a very increased risk of autism. So taking Tylenol is not good. I'll say it it's not good. Did you notice how?
Molly McPherson:he struggled there. That's why I think he defaulted. Taking Tylenol is not good. All right, I'll say it, it's not good. Did you notice how he struggled there? That's why I think he defaulted to Tylenol. It's a lot easier for him to say but that's alarmist framing Strong words, very increased risk, not good with no scientific consensus backing it up.
Speaker 3:He even admitted. You know, I'm just making these statements for me, I'm not making them from these doctors.
Molly McPherson:That's not careful public health messaging. That's a politician freelancing with people's medical choices. And then he pivoted into vaccines, of course because RFK Jr standing there calling for smaller doses over the years. Again, no evidence cited. It's a rhetorical move. Stoke fear connected to a broader narrative and let the soundbite live online where it goes in direct contrast. And it's fighting for airtime and headline space with the Jimmy Kimmel announcement. He wants it to cover the Kimmel announcement, the effect Panic among expecting mothers, confusion in the medical community and dangerous undermining of trust in safe medications.
Molly McPherson:And personally I don't like this fear-mongering around a diagnosis of autism. There are plenty of people living with autism. There are plenty of people on the spectrum. There are plenty of places on the spectrum where autism lies. We're labeling it as a problem and we're labeling people with autism, kids with autism. Why are we painting them as such problems? I mean, yes, it's understandable. It's something that we want to understand more. We want to get closer to how we can work with it. So babies aren't born with this challenge. So we understand what's behind autism. But it's so dangerous when we make it seem like it's just this awful, awful thing. I have a nephew who has autism. But if I were a parent right now with a child with autism, I would be picking up the phone and calling them and talking to them and telling them that you're perfect, you're perfect, there is nothing wrong with you. There is no reason why we needed a statement from the Roosevelt Room about something that you deal with in your life. I don't like it, but that's my take, that's my Molly take. But then here's the third response Tylenol.
Molly McPherson:The parent company Kenview, responded quickly. Quote independent sound science clearly shows that taking acetaminophen does not cause autism. We strongly disagree with any suggestion otherwise. Woof, that's the corporate counterpunch Straightforward denial grounded in scientific consensus. They went further. Acetamiophen is the safest pain reliever for pregnant women. Without it, women face dangerous choices, suffer through fever or use riskier alternatives.
Molly McPherson:Bam, this is what Disney's statement lacked directness. Tylenol acknowledged the stakes, emphasized evidence and outlined the risks of ignoring science. It's not perfect PR After all, they are protecting their product, of course but it's anchored in data and clarity. Now, they knew this was coming. There was an announcement this morning that President Trump would be making a statement, so I think he was just waiting for it to be timed. But this was a statement that came with a punch.
Molly McPherson:Now, if we line them up and compare them. The Disney statement it's very vague, defensive, hiding between we Trump. Trump statement alarmistist, unsourced, emotional, designed for headlines, not accuracy, designed for distraction. And Tylenol Firm, evidence-based, corrective, anchored in research and patient safety. What do they have in common? All three are less about truth than about control. Some of the statements have truth in there. Tylenol was backing it with data, but they needed to control the messaging because their stock plunged. So, yes, kimmel is back and, yes, tylenol is fighting to defend itself against presidential claims. But here's the real through line. We're watching a test in credibility. Who do you believe? Do you believe networks? Do you believe you believe? Do you believe networks? Do you believe the president? Do you believe scientists? Because in all the story, the stakes are the same Trust. That's all for this week on the podcast. Thanks so much for listening. Does your head hurt? Mine does. Bye, for now.
