Hit 100 celeb apology videos reviewed, only 7 felt real to me

After breaking down my 100th apology video last week, I counted which ones had actual regret versus damage control and 93 of them were textbook PR moves, so has anyone else noticed the ones that feel real always skip the crying and just say exactly what they did?

2 comments

2 Comments

johnson.river9d ago

Wait, so 93 out of 100 people cried on cue but somehow forgot to mention what they actually did wrong? That tracks with every PR team meeting I've ever overheard from across a restaurant. Honestly, the real ones are so rare that when I spot one, I almost feel bad for the person because they're probably getting yelled at by their manager for not adding enough dramatic pauses. The crying thing is such a giveaway too, like if someone is sobbing before they even say the word "sorry," they rehearsed the tears right after they rehearsed the excuses. The best ones just sound like a normal person who got caught, which means they skipped the whole "I'm heartbroken to let you down" script and went straight to "yeah, I messed up, here's what I'm fixing." At this point I'm convinced the 7 real ones are just people who forgot to hire a crisis team.

zara_sanchez9d ago

That statistic from the study (or whatever that was from) really stuck with me too. It's like they all read the same playbook but forgot that real people don't act like that. I've been in rooms where someone got caught doing something dumb and the explanation was just "yeah, that happened, my bad" and honestly that's way more believable than any tearful speech I've ever seen. The crying feels like a performance for the cameras, not for the person they actually hurt. I get why you'd almost feel bad for the 7 who just owned it, because they're gonna get roasted for being too boring. But honestly, boring and honest beats dramatic and fake every time.