PR Funny: Weiner Burnt By News Headlines

by PR Coach

Weiner gets burnt by headlines Visual: Sad Hill

The  tabloids and cable TV had a great time with their Weiner-Gate crisis headlines in the past two weeks. Hey, why should they have all the fun?

I’ve always thought the best job in the universe would be headline writer at a daily tabloid newspaper. That job may not even exist anymore but the great thing about blogging is that headline writer is a critical part of our gig too.

Here’s a really enjoyable post by Fishbowl DCWeiner Resigns Headlines: Who Wrote it Best? with some Weiner-Gate headlines that got me pointed in the right direction. My two favorites:

“PREMATURE EVACUATION: Rep. quits amid intense pressure after sexting scandal[New York Post:]

“‘Weiner WILL bounce back’: Obama says ex-congressman can return after shamed politician quits with groveling apology to his pregnant wife” [The Daily Mail]

Just to illustrate how weird and wacky media coverage is these days, consider porn publisher Larry Flynt’s job offer to disgraced Rep Weiner in a post in The Huffington PostMy Job Offer for Anthony Weiner. That’s even outhustling the National Enquirer which took full responsibility for his resignation due to its cross-dressing pics of the politician.

And here are some new headlines that popped up today; some deliberately funny and others unintentionally ironic:

American Way: The Weiner wife who refused to be Huma the Humiliated [The Telegraph]
Elmer Smith: Weiner resigns, but only after an appalled porn star spoke up … [Philadelphia Daily News]
ENTOURAGE interested in Weiner [Very Aware]
Hustler Magazine Willing To Pay For Weiner [Complex]
Hustler wants Weiner, ‘Entourage’ not so much [CNN]
Obama Says Weiner Will Rise Again, NY Republican Says “Fu*k It” & Hustler … [GlobalGrind]
Pervert Weiner Resigns: The Era of the Sex Addiction Scam is Over [The PJ Tatler]
Porn Publisher Larry Flynt Offers Weiner a Job [The Baltimore Sun]
The backstory: Weiner’s final undoing [Politico]
Weiner Gets Job Offer [Fox News]
Weiner-Hungry Cable News Won’t Point Their Cameras At Nancy Pelosi If She Insists On Talking About Jobs [The Huffington Post]
Weiner Overboard [Weekly World News]
Weiner Resigns After Enquirer’s Cross-Dressing Photo! [National Enquirer]
Weiner resigns…Battling Southwest fires…Holding back the Missouri River [9&10 News]
Weiner Seeks Sex ‘Tweetment’ [National Enquirer]

Thank heavens for Google News Alerts!

The serious, but fleeting, point of this post is to illustrate the lessons of mixing sex, politics, bad conduct, not managing your reputation in social media and poor crisis management.

It’s been a bonanza for the Comedy Channel, late night TV comics and tabloids. But, when you become the story, with headlines like these, your only future is working with Larry Flynt, on air as a loudmouth syndicated radio talk show host or a short stint on Fox TV.

I’ll just finish with my own best Weiner-Gate headline attempt:

“Weiner Gets Burnt by Porn King Larry Flynt’s Offer of Job”

I expect the residuals to flow from that headline or caption.

Finally, a little sage moral and crisis management advice from Lao-Tze (60 Selected Best Famous quotes):

Watch your thoughts; they become words.
Watch your words; they become actions.
Watch your actions; they become habits.
Watch your habits; they become character.
Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.

Some posts and headlines just write themselves, don’t they?

Got a favorite Weiner-Gate headline to share? We’re all ears. Just drop us a note in the comments below

If you’re looking for more PR Humor or somewhere amusing to spend your lunch hour or coffee break, try the Funny Now That You Mention It section of our PR Library. Here are a couple of my other recent posts with a similar, slightly-bent sense of humor:

10 New, Must-Have PR Smartphone Apps
Bad News Releases: 25 Press Release Turkeys

Julian Assange’s WikiLeaks PR Strategy

Bad Press Releases: 20 Worst Headlines Ever

News Release Was Not Ready for Prime Time

Friday PR Picks: 15 PR Jokes to Get You Started

Photo credit: Sad Hill, National Enquirer and Politico

Author: Jeff Domansky is Editor, The PR Coach

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