During Donald Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally on October 27, stand-up comedian Tony Hinchcliff unleashed a wave of insults and vulgar statements about Jews, Palestinians, Latinos and African Americans.
Even though Mr. Trump and other Republicans said they disagreed with the remarks, the damage was already done because the offensive comments have taken on a life of their own, being repeated continually on TV news shows and having gained major media coverage in newspapers and magazines.
It is a prime example of what I’ve counseled clients before an interview: The only way to keep unwanted remarks from being used by a journalist is to not say it. Once you do, it’s fair game for a reporter to use it and any apology you give will be taken with a grain of salt.
According to the New York Times, “Many in the crowd, which was predominantly white with a significant number of Latinos, groaned when Hinchcliffe said Puerto Rico was a “floating island of garbage,” and when he called out a Black man in the audience with a reference to watermelon.”
Mr. Hinchcliffe is known as an “insult” comic, which brings up an important point that people in our business should remember: Be careful when choosing a celebrity as a product hawker. Do an extensive investigation to see if the person has made controversial remarks in the past.
My first public relations job, after jumping the fence from the journalistic side, was with a political agency, where I worked on campaigns ranging from local, statewide to presidential ones.
Putting on my political hat, below is what I would advise Mr. Trump and Ms. Harris how to respond to the negative media coverage from Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally.
If I was advising the Trump campaign, my advice would be to make one statement saying that you disagree with the disparaging comments made by Mr. Hinchcliffe and drop the matter. The more the campaign refers to it, the longer it will stay in the news.
Conversely, if I was advising the Harris campaign, I would attempt to keep it in the news until Election Day, by having candidates and surrogates refer to it during rallies and media interviews. I would also suggest creating an ad featuring the remarks:
An ad I would suggest might be:
“Can you imagine that Donald Trump would allow a person at his rally to say what he did without knowing about it?” And then include footage of the remarks. Finish with “Hard to believe, but Mr. Trump did.”
The important PR lesson that PR practitioners should remember is that it’s impossible to prevent a spokesperson from making personal comments during interviews. The only way to prevent that from happening is to use the spokesperson exclusively in commercials.
But there is a way to limit the media coverage that a controversial comment from a spokesperson might ignite. Don’t dwell on it, like Donald Trump is doling as I write this on Oct. 29 by calling what happened at Madison Square Garden, as the AP reported—“Donald Trump on Tuesday called his rally at New York’s Madison Square Garden, an event marked by crude and racist insults by several speakers, a ‘lovefest.’
“That’s a term the former president also has used to reference the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.
“Speaking to reporters and supporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort, Trump claimed ‘there’s never been an event so beautiful’ as his Sunday night rally in his hometown of New York City.
“‘The love in that room. It was breathtaking,’ he said. ‘It was like a lovefest, an absolute lovefest. And it was my honor to be involved.’”
Mr. Trump’s statement is a prime example of extending the life of a PR crisis.
If you’re ever in a position of having a spokesperson make a controversial statement during an interview, here’s what I suggest you do.
Issue a short statement saying something like, “While Mr/Ms. Spokesperson has every right to express his/her views, they do not represent the views of the XYZ Company.” And then drop the matter. (And the spokesperson.)
So choose your spokesperson carefully, and have an attorney draw up a contract that includes penalties if the spokesperson delves into political or social problems.
