Simone's Session Notes

In the age of cancel culture, people expect celebrities to respond immediately when allegations or controversy come up. They want “the notes-app apology.” They want an “official” press statement.

However, in a crisis, there are many ways celebrities and their PR teams can address the issues. To name some, they could:

• Admit fault and fall on the sword
• Deflect blame
• Remain neutral
• Or… stay silent.

While that seems counterintuitive to stay silent when faced with serious accusations, it is a strategy. Silence can be a powerful tool in crisis communication in entertainment public relations.

Pressure to Respond in the Digital Age

The game has changed. Fans and media expect answers, and an instant response to the issue: what has changed?

• 24-hour news cycles: In the past, the news day would end when the workday ended. However, as the internet became mainstream, constant updates became accessible, which made it commonplace. This made it expected. 
• Fan expectations: Fans expect their artists to be aware of the current conversation around them, and no one wants to like someone everyone else hates.
• Social media amplification: Online discourse made it so that any situation on the internet could quickly become massively viral. This means that situations can grow bigger than the artists’ PR team can manage.  

The expectations for celebrities to speak out on issues are very high, and a statement could be demanded at any time, depending on how massive the situation becomes.

Every second counts in PR across the board, but a statement must not be made in haste. That can lead to reckless statements made just to save face. So, sometimes saying nothing speaks louder than any statement. 

Silence works when…

Not every event that causes buzz requires a statement. If a celebrity constantly makes statements every time something happens, then it discredits the statement when a serious event occurs. This is when not speaking on something can become a strength.

Silence is powerful when:

• The allegations or rumours are baseless or poorly informed
• The issue is unrelated to the celebrity’s core brand
• Speculation or rumour fuels the story rather than facts

Celebrities choose this all the time.

• Zendaya is famously silent when controversy happens around her. No matter if the controversy is positive or negative, Zendaya does not respond.
• Leonardo DiCaprio has gained controversy for dating women under 25 years old. Nikki Glaser recently joked, when she was the host of the Golden Globes, that she’d joke about him, but there is nothing anyone knows about him. Despite the criticism of his dating habits, the public think of it often dismisses the issue because he doesn’t talk about it.

Note that the public does not typically remember that the event happened in hindsight when the celebrity chooses not to speak on the issue.

The point isn’t to bury the issue either, don’t get that confused. It is to denote whether these issues are imperative to the celebrities’ core brand. 

Silence backfires when…

Silence is not the golden ticket to escaping a statement. It can be a poor choice that could potentially snowball when celebrities stay silent.

• The cast and crew of Wuthering Heights chose silence around the controversy of Jacob Elordi’s casting as Heathcliff. In the original novel, Heathcliff is described as a person of color, but Elordi is white. No one addressed the issue, but potential audiences have been deterred from watching the film because of their choice to keep silent.
• Taylor Swift’s delayed statements on political issues may have benefited her in garnering her fanbase initially, but as corporate social responsibility becomes more important to fans, expectations have shifted. This has negatively impacted Swift’s image with her fanbase.

Silence is a powerful tool, but statements are made for a reason, and PR professionals need to weigh timing and context when making decisions on what to say. Silence could magnify curiosity in why controversy is happening to a celebrity, or make fans frustrated.

How silence can come out as a controlled narrative choice.

PR teams should not be so quick to dismiss silence as a response in PR. It has an important purpose, and it doesn’t always admit guilt.

• It signals confidence in the truth.
• It doesn’t entertain rumor cycles.
• It reserves the meaning of the statement when the situation calls for it rather than seeming reactive.

Silence isn’t always a passive reaction and shouldn’t be perceived as such. It can be a powerful tool for controlling the client’s narrative.