When a person is in the public eye there is a lot that goes into keeping them in the good graces of the public since they are sold for public consumption as products rather than people. Famous people have teams of people who monitor and control how they are perceived in public and what stories are released about them into the public sphere. The job of a PR representative is to portray clients in a positive light on the world stage and ensure that any publicity for their clients is done to ensure they continue to thrive and sell.
However, there is a downside to PR in that a concentrated campaign can be unleashed to discredit celebrities or to combat a narrative that the movie studios, music labels or TV companies do not want released. Coordinated campaigns of PR teams involve planting stories in the public sphere, utilising fake accounts to cause discord and stepping up social media campaigns to allow these fictitious stories to take precedence and get picked up by the media.
Melissa Nathan is a well known name in the world of PR and has worked with Drake, Johnny Depp and Brad Pitt to name a few clients. She co- owns The Agency Group with Scooter Braun- yes the Scooter Braun who many believe to be abusive and who was Justin Beiber’s former manager. Many of her clients face crisis management; I personally believe Johnny Depp was a victim of Amber Heard, since I watched the trial and listened to the recordings of Amber abusing Johnny.
But other than that Melissa seems to count her clients in terms of the abuse they are accused of and she is very talented in getting the world on the side of the accused abusers over the victims. Too often in Hollywood powerful men abuse women and get away with it because of the status they hold and the power they have over the media, over the studios and over the general public.
Melissa Nathan helps those powerful men keep that power and works with her sister Sara Nathan of The New York Post to push out the narratives that these labels/studios/abusers want put out into the public sphere. Many fans of One Direction know of Sara Nathan but most aren’t aware of the connection between Sara, Melissa and Simon Cowell. Melissa Nathan was Simon’s publicist for a time and worked with Sara Nathan to put stories out that Simon wanted released.
I believe there is still a connection there as stories of Liam Payne and his untimely death have been shared through The New York Post and most have shared the narrative that Liam was a drugged up alcoholic which cost him his life. The multiple narratives around Liam’s death don’t make sense, but the fact that Simon Cowell who abused Liam so thoroughly as part of One Direction was given headlines and sympathy when attending his funeral enraged fans of Liam and One Direction.
Further, this isn’t the only example of a powerful man who controls the media narratives around him. Recently we’ve all heard about the issues surrounding Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni as they filmed The Idea of You, Blake who was four months postpartum and was back at work filming The Idea of You experienced sexual harassment at the hands of Baldoni and actually had her husband accompany her to the set to make her feel comfortable.
Not only was she sexually harassed while at work, but she was fat shamed by Baldoni to the point that Ryan Renolds stepped in and told Baldoni to stop. Further there was an orchestrated smear campaign put out by Melissa Nathan, Jennifer Abel and Justin Baldoni to not only discredit Blake, but to cause the public to hate on her. This was a successful campaign and the public largely turned on Blake and began hating on her. The only reason public favour has turned back to Blake was because she came forward and presented Baldoni with a lawsuit that contained damning messages, and information about what she had gone through on set.
Blake isn't the only female to be treated in this way and Kate Beckinsdale has come forward and spoke out about similar treatment. This is also evidenced if we look back at the history of the entertainment industry and the abuse of women by powerful men such as Weinstein. Rose McGowan was blacklisted by Hollywood after she spoke up about Weinstein and while the Me Too movement was powerful, it didn’t address the underlying issue that those with power all often abuse that power and expect zero consequences.
Men like Justin Baldoni, Simon Cowell, Lucian Grange and multiple others have allegedly abused others and also allegedly facilitated the abuse of others. When victims come forward or speak up about the abuse they have suffered the public are fed lies and half truths about them to turn their public supporters against them, leaving them isolated and unable to work since the same powerful men work at the labels, studios and control who gets to work and who is blacklisted. The powerful men also often force or coerce victims to sign NDAs and take control of the allegations to ensure that they or their clients or friends are not held accountable for their actions and punished accordingly.
When fans spot PR hackjobs or hitjobs it’s often too late and the news is already out in the public sphere. How many times do PR companies put out stories where ‘sources claim’, or ‘an insider states’ or ‘a close friend states’? Each of those is PR-speak and sells the story of the relationship, the abuse victim or the narrative that the PR company wants to promote. Hell - even funerals are not safe from PR! At Liam Payne’s funeral in November the former One Direction PR person was there, leading guests into the funeral and suddenly Simon Cowell was crying on Liam’s devastated parents’ shoulders in full view of the cameras yet when he turned around not a tear was seen on his face. Convenient huh? Yet that was the story the media ran with - how devastated Simon was.
The world of celebrity is a vicious place and there are many narratives at play, but if you don’t toe the line or if you step out of line at all the labels, management companies and media can destroy your reputation, ruin your life and take your career from you in the blink of an eye. It’s a vicious cycle and the brave few who speak out for everyone often don’t have a career in their industry because they spoke out. Talented people are not toys, are not stories but are real life people with real life feelings. Perhaps in future before you believe some of the heinous stories the media presents to the public - look into things and don’t take them at face value because not everyone tells the truth and not everything you see in the media is the whole truth. In fact it rarely is. Fabricated fairy tales make up most of what you know about celebrities because their public images are made to sell them as a product and not a person.
It’s all an act and the sooner people realise that abusers can be both male and female, that power imbalances cause abuse and that not everything you see is true, the better the world will be. The world is a complex, convoluted place and people aren’t made to be products, they are human beings and can make mistakes but abusing people constantly is not a mistake and it’s beyond time that these powerful figures are held accountable for the real damage they do in the name of PR.
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