Public Humiliation in the Internet Age

May 21, 2011 5:24 PM

Recovering from scandals and public humiliation in the media... examples and how-tos

I'm doing a project looking at how public figures (and newly public figures such as people who have become internet famous against their will) respond effectively to humiliating episodes.

I'm looking for:

- How-to books, articles, etc. for PR professionals (and the like) about how to recover from media disasters. Not for corporations (like car recalls), but how individuals manage to recover from scandals
- Examples of individuals who seem to have recovered effortlessly from humiliation (e.g., Reagan, the "Teflon President"), especially that detail how they did it
- Especially looking for modern examples in the Internet age, as opposed to examples from before when social media was as important
- Examples of people made famous against their will (e.g. Star Wars guy) and how they coped with negative, humiliating attention
- Examples of people who were anonymous and were outed publicly for something humiliating and how they coped with that
- Good search keywords

Sorry for the huge list, but I wanted to make sure that I didn't miss anything.

Thank you, hive mind!

posted by carolinaherrera to Society & Culture (10 answers total)

i know you're looking for real world examples, but there's a lot of this stuff in "The Good Wife." they deal with scandal, the internet, the 24 hour news cycle, the handlers. i think it's really well done and interesting because it's mostly focused on the family of someone famous who fucked up and how they recover.
posted by nadawi at 5:45 PM on May 21, 2011

carolinaherrera: "- Examples of individuals who seem to have recovered effortlessly from humiliation (e.g., Reagan, the "Teflon President"), especially that detail how they did it

Rob Lowe

- Examples of people made famous against their will (e.g. Star Wars guy) and how they coped with negative, humiliating attention

Steve Bartman, and a follow-up from about a year later
posted by SuperSquirrel at 5:56 PM on May 21, 2011

Bill Clinton
posted by fifilaru at 6:21 PM on May 21, 2011

Elliott Spitzer
posted by Sweetie Darling at 6:28 PM on May 21, 2011 [1 favorite]

Two examples that quickly came to mind are: Hugh Grant--I remember he went on the Tonight show after the Divine Brown incident (how on EARTH did I retain that name all these years later? Brain, you are weird) and spent his entire segment basically saying "I'm sorry, I was an idiot". Pee-Wee Herman, after the porno theater thing--he basically put away the Pee-Wee character for a long time, did some work under his real name. Pee-Wee's recently been making a big comeback (Yay!).
posted by lovecrafty at 7:11 PM on May 21, 2011

Martha Stewart?
posted by timeo danaos at 7:27 PM on May 21, 2011

Andrew "Don’t tase me, bro" Meyer.
posted by kirkaracha at 7:43 PM on May 21, 2011

Gary Condit is a textbook example of what not to do. As soon as reporters asked him about Chandra Levy he should have admitted he was in a relationship with her, was deeply concerned, and would do whatever he could to help the police. Instead he lied to the cops, lied to the press, and drug it out for months, and it cost him his career.
posted by kirkaracha at 7:48 PM on May 21, 2011

Mariah Carey
posted by SisterHavana at 10:45 PM on May 21, 2011

Benni Cinkles, aka "Awkward Dancing Friend" in Rebecca Black's music video addresses the most popular questions that she receives on the Tumblr.
posted by to recite so charmingly at 7:46 AM on May 22, 2011 [1 favorite]