Harvey’s Wallbanger: Committing a PR blunder is becoming a monthly occurrence for comedian/radio and TV personality Steve Harvey. The popular entertainer was caught in the thicket last week when he told a caller to his radio show from Flint, MI, June 14 that the caller should “enjoy your nice, brown glass of water.” Prior to Harvey’s comment the caller was blasting Cleveland after its NBA team, the Cavaliers, had lost in the finals of the NBA championship. Harvey is a fan of the Cavaliers. Sad irony: Michigan’s attorney general announced involuntary manslaughter charges for five officials in connection with the Flint water fiasco hours after Harvey’s morning radio show. You might recall Harvey’s PR peccadillo last month, when an internal memo he wrote to staffers of his eponymous TV show leaked. (Obvious PR lesson: There ain’t no such animal as an internal memo.) In the memo Harvey ordered staff to stay clear of him in the hallways and his dressing room: ”No stopping by or popping in…IF YOU OPEN MY DOOR EXPECT TO BE REMOVED,” the tone-deaf missive said in all caps. “I promise you I will not entertain you in the hallway, and do not attempt to walk with me,” he wrote. Harvey defended the memo, but later told Entertainment Tonight, “I probably should’ve handled it a little bit differently.” When the story hit, PR pros urged two sets of eyes check memos before they’re issued. Good point, although during this latest miscue Harvey’s radio co-hosts could sense the Flint caller was irking him. They urged Harvey to back off. He refused.
Ubermenschen: There’s little need to go into great detail regarding the chain of events surrounding Uber’s week, since nearly all of it went according to a plan that was clear weeks ago. To quickly recap: CEO Travis Kalanick likely was going to exit temporarily; his right-hand/SVP, business Emil Michael was to be fired; Asia business chief Eric Alexander probably already was ousted in connection with a 2014 incident in India, where an Uber driver was accused (and later convicted) of raping a female passenger; and the results of Eric Holder’s report into sexual discrimination at the company were going to be released last week ( PRN, June 12). All that happened. Last week, Uber’s board adopted Holder’s recommendations unanimously, including: prohibiting activities involving alcohol consumption during “core work hours”; a reduction in company spending on alcohol for after-hours activities; a ban on taking non-prescription controlled substances at work; and an end to romantic liaisons between employees in a reporting relationship. Those recommendations seem to say a lot about Uber’s former culture and raise questions about its board’s effectiveness. They also received plenty of media ink. More sobering (pun intended) recommendations, such as mandatory leadership training for execs, increases in diversity and board oversight, were relegated to sidebars as news of Kalanick’s leave and another unfortunate item dominated. During an all-hands briefing June 13 about the 13-page report, Uber director Ariana Huffington announced the addition of a second female board member, Wan Ling Martello, a Nestle EVP. That’s when the forward momentum crashed momentarily as board member David Bonderman joked that adding a second woman would increase the amount of “talking” at meetings. Bonderman later apologized and resigned, a good move. The lesson for communicators: Something always goes wrong. When it does, a quick response can be a good move.
News Bits: In a June 15 post, Facebook says it wants to be “a hostile place for terrorism.” The post details how it’s using AI, human intelligence and partnerships to detect and remove terrorist posts, aiming its most “cutting-edge” techniques at “ISIS, Al Qaeda and their affiliates.” Sad irony that early media reports about James Hodgkinson, the alleged shooter of Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) and others at a VA softball field June 1.4, focused on his Facebook page that was filled with invective aimed at Republicans and President Donald Trump. – Fox News Channel dropped its Fair and Balanced tagline in favor of Most Watched, Most Trusted. FAB was too closely associated with the late Roger Ailes, Fox says, insisting the change was a marketing decision as opposed to an editorial one. – Instagram said June 14 it’s offering a tool for influencers to indicate their posts are sponsored. The tool adds a line under the influencer’s name indicating the post is sponsored.
People: The lawyer who was interim CEO at United Airlines when Oscar Munoz suffered a heart attack in Oct. ’15, Brett Hart, now will oversee communications. He’ll report to Munoz. SVP communications Jim Olson now will report to Hart. He’d been reporting to HR. Hart’s new title: EVP/chief administrative officer/general counsel. – Props to influencer chef Jamie Oliver, who’s offering free meals via Instagram at his restaurants to victims of the Grenfell Tower fire in London. Oliver has some 6 million Instagram followers.