Mike Soltys calls ESPN layoffs ‘very disappointing,’ but is moving on from ‘the sadness’
"Showing this amount of people the door, not for performance reasons, is very disappointing."
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Knicks’ new branding consultant goes on First Take for first televised interview, says they’ll fire coaching staff, has to recant and apologize
"In my excitement to defend the Knicks on live TV today, I inadvertently insinuated about Knicks personnel. I look forward to working with Knicks management to elevate the great Knicks brand moving forward."
The art of the demotion: some of the most prominent ESPN “reassignments” that have minimized negative coverage
Knicks PR insists they didn’t send Richard Jefferson a contract offer, a day after Jefferson said on-air he retired after getting a Knicks...
The Knicks are probably right that they didn't actually offer Richard Jefferson a contract in 2018, but trying to correct Jefferson's on-air claim brought them a lot more negative attention.
After #Fartgate, American Standard offers to send Mike Francesa a personalized “First time, long time” bidet seat
"While the Internet debates whether or not this is true, we wanted to make sure that when you need to go, you can go with dignity."
Astros’ GM Jeff Luhnow meets with SI’s Stephanie Apstein after firing Brandon Taubman, but doesn’t commit to retracting “wrong” statement
A full retraction of a statement Luhnow and the Astros have already called "wrong" and "incorrect" would seemingly be easy, but they haven't committed to doing that.
Astros’ GM Jeff Luhnow continues organization’s PR blunders, says “many people” wrote fabrication statement, he couldn’t personally apologize
Luhnow and the Astros are still digging themselves deeper.
Astros fire assistant GM Brandon Taubman, admit his comments were targeted at specific reporters, apologize to SI with “we were wrong”
Three days after insisting Taubman's comments weren't directed at particular reporters, the Astros have changed their tune.
Astros’ Brandon Taubman reportedly specifically targeted a reporter who’d tweeted about domestic violence, in contrast to team statements
NPR's David Folkenflik reported Tuesday that contrary to statements from Houston Astros' assistant GM Brandon Taubman and from the team, Taubman was targeting a specific female reporter who'd tweeted about domestic violence.
ESPN cancels daily Outside The Lines, changes it to segments and a Saturday show, and Norby Williamson claims they’re ‘expanding’ it
"We’re taking away ‘OTL’s’ linear half-hour daily presence and expanding it. If you compare that 30 minute weekday show from 1-1:30 to the amount of impressions that I’m going to get, we’re going to impact more people."
Rockets’ PR staffer shuts down CNN reporter asking players about China, says “basketball questions only” (updated)
"Basketball questions only" was a bad look here.
Redskins’ PR boss Tony Wyllie exits after nine years with the team and a whole lot of controversies
Wyllie was involved in a whole lot of headlines over the years, including breaking up on-field interviews, sending statements that proved completely false, and comparing Daniel Snyder's lawsuit against The Washington City Paper to the Arab Spring protests.
Cubs’ VP claims tweet on them influencing Russell coverage was “egregious,” reveals he tried to influence FanGraphs over it
Contacting a site to demand that one of their writers take down a tweet doesn't seem like the best way to prove that you can handle critical media coverage, but that's what Cubs' VP (communications and community affairs) Julian Green did.
