What was he thinking? Gregg Wallace, the now fading face of the hugely successful Masterchef franchise, had been accused of making inappropriate sexual comments towards celebrity guests. That was bad enough. A career disaster. And then he made it ten times worse by dismissing the allegations to be the fabrication of “middle class women of a certain age”.
A sigh of despair was exhaled by every PR manager across the country. How could he be so crass? How could he be so disdainful, so unrepentant and so, so offensive?
The situation was this. At least 13 women complained Gregg had made lewd remarks and crude jokes while filming a range of programmes over 17 years. And with the BBC’s reputation for handling complaints about inappropriate behaviour now paper thin, questions were now being asked and answers demanded.
But Gregg was not going to go quietly, oh no. Instead, he filmed himself defiantly damning his accusers and deriding their complaints. The response triggered a plethora of national newspaper front pages with headlines including ‘Disaster Chef’ and ‘Shut Your Cake Hole, Gregg’. The Daily Star even created a front page with a cut out and keep Crisis Management Advice for Anybody named Gregg which said: ‘When you are in a really, really, really deep hole, stop digging’.
No chance. He then also filmed himself saying he had had no complaints from production staff. None. Zero. PR managers cringed again.
Gregg Wallace, the cheeky chappy market stall holder turned TV presenter, had just not read the room, not when he was in it allegedly making inappropriate comments nor when he was called out for his behaviour. He demonstrated no empathy for his complainants and absolutely no common sense in handling the accusations.
So what should he have done? Regardless of blame, first and foremost, he should have apologised if anyone felt uncomfortable. We know lawyers are involved but empathising when people are upset is not admitting liability. It would have been just the decent thing to do and would have demonstrated a modicum of humility. Whether he did the things he is being accused of or not, he should have said sorry if anyone had felt uncomfortable or distressed. That is ground zero. He did say sorry eventually and apologised eventually but it all felt too little and too late, almost as though a PR manager had stepped in to try to save him from himself.
But where were they earlier? It is hard to believe, given the way he behaved, that he had been given any advice. If he had, he surely must have ignored it to his enduring cost.
By the point of his rather unconvincing apology, he had already disrespected his accusers which once said, cannot easily be withdrawn.
Now Gregg’s TV career is now at best uncertain, at worst, dead in the water. He denies the accusations but the reputational damage is already pretty severe and made worse by his reaction. But he is not the important one here. It is those women who have been sufficiently upset to issue a formal complaint. Poor behaviour is never acceptable, no matter where, by whom or why.
The moral of the tale is if you are in a fix, get PR advice. Let them be the voice of reason. Time and again, PR professionals have proved to be invaluable and might just save your bacon.
Contact us at KAT Marketing for expert advice and we would be happy to help you.