How to Apologize like a Celebrity

In the last few weeks, two famous celebrities i.e. Cut Tary and Luna Maya have offered apologies for the circulation of Videos showing women who look like them having sex with Ariel the singer of the band Peterpan.

Tary admitted that she played in the sex video, but Luna denied. While Ariel never say anything to the public since the Police arrested him on on 22 June, on charges of violation of the Pornography Law.

The way they apologized reminded me of an article that I read in the Toastmasters magazine titled "How to Apologize Like a Celebrity" written by Chris Witt (www.lifeafterpowerpoint.com) about five most common ways celebrities apologize :

Blame the Other Person:
Start by saying sorry then shift the focus from your actions to the other person's reactions. Make it sound as if the other person's thin-skinned sensibilities, outdated notions of fairness and decency, or failure to understand what you really meant - not your misdeeds - are the real culprits. The common ploy lets you sound like you're apologizing without requiring you to express regret. If you're clever enough, you may even get people to apologize to you.

Offer an Excuse:
If you can't blame someone else, you can always blame extenuating circumstances, you can point a finger at any number of situations beyond your control : the weather, the economy, the fickleness of computers, the sorry state of the world we live in or the stress of having to much to do.

Use the Passive Voice:
The passive voice is a key to apologizing like a celebrity. For example, say: "Mistakes were made" not "I made a mistake". Say: "There was an error of judgement" not "I was wrong".

Delay as Long as Possible:
You may feel inclined - decent people often do - to offer an apology the moment you realize you've done something wrong. Avoid saying anything at all. Wait and see how things play out. Maybe people will forget about what you did, or maybe someone else will do something even wore. Then you're off the hook.

Hide Your Feelings:
If you feel remorse, regret or even guilt because of what you've done - people with a conscience often do,
make sure no one knows it. Make apology the way sincere people do, accept responsibility, offer to make amends. Ask for understanding and forgiveness. But make it sound as if you don't believe what you're saying.
Speak in a monotone, avoid eye contact, and never reveal a heartfelt emotion.

Now that we know how celebrities do it, we will surely be able to discover some more appropriate words and actions that will enable us to receive Forgiveness.

Apologize to Improve Image

When I was a young boy, I usually apologize to my mother whenever she caught me doing something wrong, afterwards she would not be so angry.

That’s what I thought few days ago after I read Rick Kelly's post in Bernstein Crisis Management’s newsletter about two international sport figures who have recently been reprimanded by their organizations for their bad habits.

The first one was Baseball star Alex Rodriguez (33) who has been reported by Selena Roberts & David Eipstein of Sports Illustrated on 7 February as tested positive for taking performance enhancing drugs in 2003. This has shocked his fans and drew public critism. In order to improve his image, on 9 February he gave an interview with Peter Gammons of ESPN, admitting that he has taken "a banned substance" and he is "very sorry and deeply regretful." After that he announced that he will join a foundation which fights the use of Steroids.

The second one was Olympic Swimming Champion Michael Phelp(23) who has been reported and displayed by News of the World on 2 January smoking from a Bong (glass pipe for smoking drugs). Frightened by the grave consequences that the news might bring on his swimming career, few days later he released a written statement to Associated Press saying that he was sorry and promised his fans and the public that it will never happen again. Further, he has accepted the U.S Swimming Committee's decision to suspend him for 3 months. Further more, he didn't protest when Kellog dropped its sponsorship of him.

In conclusion I felt that sports celebrities have been playing games with the hearts of their fans and the public, by simply apologizing for mistakes which are against public moral standard, i.e. consumption of illegal drugs.