It seems like the past week has been one full of guilt and regrets. Pop-star Justin Bieber and Wolf of Wall Street star Jonah Hill found themselves in two different, yet very similar sticky situations. On the one hand we have Mr. Hill, who after being followed by paparazzi all day, finally snapped and said a “disgusting and hurtful” homophobic slur as he later explained to radio host, Howard Stern. On the other hand we have Mr. Bieber who also sought the public’s forgiveness for something that he did, not recently, but five years ago! After TMZ released a video of a then 15-year-old Justin Bieber telling a racist joke to his friends.
What is worth noting is that these two celebrities share a gracious and successful manner in which they handled their mistakes. As far as prepared apologies go, the anatomy of their apologies were nearly perfect. You can find in Off the Cuff/What to Say at a Moment’s Notice authored by our CEO Anne Ready for Career Press, that both apologies hit all the right notes. Mr. Hill and Mr. Bieber both acknowledged their wrongdoing and took full responsibility for their actions. “What I said in that moment was disgusting and I shouldn’t have said it,” Johan Hill stated. Both celebrities apologized briefly and sincerely, reiterated how they may have hurt others, as well as portraying how they feel about it: “This is a heartbreaking situation for me, because from the day I was born, and publicly, I’ve been a gay rights activist,” Jonah Hill said to his fans.
One key ingredient is the promise to correct the wrong and make amends; a step that both Mr. Hill and Mr. Bieber addressed, “I was a kid then and I am a man now who knows my responsibility to the world and to not make that mistake again,” Justin Bieber stated.
Having a good PR team backing you and having appropriate media training for these types of circumstances can go a long way. We can all learn a thing or two from Jonah Hill and Justin Bieber on how to handle apologies. They took all the right steps, they made no excuses and took full responsibility for their actions.