To Coach, or not to Coach that is the Question

This is a little late to be talking about now because of how fast things move in the blogosphere but I think it’s interesting none the less.

Chris Brown and his blue bowtie. Have you heard about Chris Brown’s bowtie? (Twitter certainly has.) Do you know why people are talking about his bowtie? I was curious about what all the fuss was so I checked it out. Basically Chris Brown went on the Larry king show to apologies about abusing Rihanna.  The two biggest things that people were talking about after the interview were his clothing and how poorly he presented himself. He mentioned saying that he didn’t remember hitting Rihanna and a hailstorm of paradise and criticisms ensued.

That disaster aside I was thinking about the team of people he has working for him to help rehabilitate his image. Is this team really worth the money and time that he is putting into them?  My question is this, is it better for a celebrity to come out and say things that are not genuine but are politically correct or is better for them to have a heartfelt apology that hasn’t been coached by some crisis management professional?  As PR professionals where do we draw the line when trying to help someone in this situation, do we let them potentially say something stupid but heart felt or is a not genuine but tecnically appropriate  apology the better way to earn back the respect of the people?

I watched a interview on 60 min with Michal Vick and at the end of it the interviewer asked Michal if what he was saying was actually him of if it was “team Vick” speaking through him.

I think it is hard to tell these days but personally I would rather hear anything heartfelt as opposed to something coached.