Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yahb3XoilOM
John Branca is a well-known entertainment lawyer and manager who has worked with various big-names artists, like Michael Jackson and Aerosmith. In an interview at Harvard, he discusses the effect the media has on someone like a celebrity and how bad press against artists can be fabricated.
There’s always going to be someone who disagrees with what you do or has an opinion on what you do. It will be hard for a celebrity, and sometimes you can’t always control what the media says about you. Thinking about the media is very important for a celebrity, so hiring the right people to control your image is very important. When asked what he does when one of his clients faces bad publicity, John Branca states that you need to convey who the artist really is, in contrast to what the media portrays him. John believes that before, the media would investigate the facts, but now there’s a rush to get legacy media and viewership, so now the information you see can be faulty. He believes that this is likely either because of laziness or the rush to be able to get content out before competitors like blogs and other sources.
When asked what he thinks about his clients that deserve the bad publicity, John stated that the artist and the art should be separated, and if he believes in the art, he will always be willing to represent the artist and help them with their career.