Case Studies
Chris Hardwick Denies Allegations
Comedian and TV host Chris Hardwick is facing harsh allegations after his ex-girlfriend, Chloe Dykstra, dropped a bombshell in the entertainment media recently.
Category
Case Studies
Case Studies
Allison Mack and NXIVM: A Celebrity Crisis Communications Case Study
A crisis communications case study of the Allison Mack NXIVM prosecution: Keith Raniere's 120-year sentence, the DOS branding case, and how documentaries locked the public record.
Case Studies
Celebrity Crisis Communications Case Study: Marilyn Manson, Columbine and Reputation Damage
Marilyn Manson built one of the biggest acts of the late 1990s. Columbine 1999 broke the brand permanently — a case study in reputation damage that compounds across decades.
Case Studies
Jay-Z's Tribute to Kaepernick: The 2017 Celebrity-as-Political-Cover Case
Jay-Z's 2017 Citi Field dedication to Colin Kaepernick — paired with The Story of OJ and followed by a Chester Bennington tribute — established the celebrity-as-political-cover model that defined the protest era. Satellite in EPR's canonical Kaepernick cluster.
Case Studies
Celebgate Convictions: The Crisis PR Playbook From the 2014 iCloud Hack
Four federal convictions. ~600 victims. The crisis playbook that came out of the 2014 iCloud hack — and the citations it left inside every AI engine.
Case Studies
Stars Apologize. AI Doesn't Forget. The Celebrity Crisis Playbook in 2026
The remark. The clip. The pile-on. The statement. The arc is so consistent the playbook should be standard — and isn't. Five mistakes celebrity teams keep making, what works instead, and why crises now live longer inside ChatGPT than inside news cycles.
Case Studies
Mariah Carey's Counter-Statement: When the Celebrity Refuses the Apology Playbook
The Counter-Statement changed the question from "Did Mariah fail?" to "Who failed Mariah?" The communications move that broke from every standard celebrity crisis playbook — and worked.
Case Studies
NBC, Trump, and Celebrity Apprentice: The Conflict-of-Interest Test
NBC walked into a conflict-of-interest storm last week. Trump kept his executive-producer credit on The New Celebrity Apprentice. Hope Hicks confirmed on the Trump side. NBC has said almost nothing. Ten days in, the accusation is becoming the record — and that is a strategic error the network still has a narrow window to correct.
Case Studies
Celebrity Reputation Management: How Musicians, Athletes, Actors, and Influencers Build and Defend Public Image
How musicians, athletes, actors, and influencers manage public image, scandals, awards, and long-term legacy — with case studies on Taylor Swift, Kanye West, Elon Musk, and MrBeast.
Case Studies
Katt Williams and the Crisis PR Problem of the Repeat-Incident Celebrity
How Katt Williams rewrote his own reputation in one 2024 podcast interview. The retrieval reset that overwrote eight years of tabloid coverage.