By now, Mel Gibson fans will know by now that he is sorry for being taped ranting at his ex-wife, denies he was bothered by being bumped off The Hangover sequel and has more work lined up.
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It remains to be seen if Gibson’s comeback will work, particularly after Winona Ryder alleged a particularly distasteful remark from him 15 years ago. For the 21st-century star, sorry is not always the hardest word – but choosing the delivery is important. Releasing a one-off statement to the press is no longer considered good enough. When the media spotlight is at its brightest, apologies have to be stage-managed, even the apparently informal ones. Here are six ways other than Gibson’s in which apologies have been delivered: The sympathetic audience Jonathan Ross appeared on Alan Carr’s Chatty Man to get a few things out his system after Sachsgate. Carr, a former warm-up man for Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, is also repped by Ross’s agent Addison Creswell. Ross knew full well he wasn’t entering Paxman territory. Result? Ross gets a fair hearing after resisting the temptation to grant the exclusive to the Daily Mail. He loses his lucrative BBC contract, but the ink is still drying on a lucrative ITV offer, where he starts this autumn. The potential employer Richard Keys claims that Sky Sports wouldn’t let him apologise after he and Andy Gray made fun of Sian Massey’s ability to run the line in Liverpool’s game at Wolves. So he went to talkSPORT. He started saying sorry to Andy Jacobs and Paul Hawskbee before adding his own thoughts: “I apologised on the Sunday… there are some dark forces at work here… it was ironic… the world had gone mad.” His position became untenable. So he went to talkSPORT. Result? Keys and Andy Gray started on the station’s mid-morning slot less than a month after they left Sky. Sian Massey was back officiating a Premier League game under Howard Webb, who gets more flak in the Netherlands than Massey does on Sky. Taking control online Russell Brand took to the internet to quit his radio show and beg for leniency for Jonathan Ross after Sachsgate. “It was a really stupid thing to do,” he pleaded directly to camera. This profuse apology followed his more partial on-air one the previous week, where he pointed out that his tormentors, Associated Newspapers, had in the past supported the Blackshirts. Chris Brown also went online to bare his soul after his domestic abuse incident with Rihanna. Result? Brand went to Hollywood soon after, and so the loss of a radio show was a flesh-wound for him at that time. After the reviews for the Arthur remake, however, he may be seeking contrition again soon. NB: Media organisations other than the Daily Mail slated it. Chris Brown’s “sorry” was somewhat undermined by the fact he threw a chair at a window at Good Morning America when grilled on the experience. The talkshow tour It’s the usual practice of stars to do the publicity rounds to promote a movie. In 1995, after his Divine Brown dalliance, Hugh Grant appeared on Leno, Larry King, Letterman and others to promote the fact he was “very sorry… I did something dishonourable, shabby and goatish.” Result? Career back on track, media grateful for a series of “exclusives” and Grant more unlikely to be forgiven for the film he was supposed to be promoting, Nine Months, than anything which happened on Sunset Boulevard. The low-key, hip apology The fate of a modern movie star. One minute, you have a bad day on the set of Terminator Salvation. A few months later, the world hears you letting off steam at the cinematographer Shane Hurlbut after a tape is leaked. Family Guy’s Peter Griffin and the admittedly deserving recipient Fox News’ Bill O’ Reilly soon received the sharp end of Bale’s tongue on fanboy YouTube mash-ups. Bale made a seemingly casual call to KROQ-FM’s hip morning-show jocks, Kevin and Bean. A full mea culpa was offered, with no excuse for the on-set leak. “It has been a miserable week but you guys made me laugh… I was way out of order. I acted like a punk.” Result? Two Batman films and an Academy Award later, no one seems to mind about Christian Bale’s tantrum. For Hurlbut, the future is less certain. He is now working on $25m movies after $200m epics. Whether he and Bale are “done professionally” remains to be seen. The press conference In the blazer-ridden, men-only, no-jeans-in-the-clubhouse world of golf, there is a certain way of doing things. So calling up Kevin and Bean on KROQ was not really an option for Tiger Woods once the world’s press found out what he’d been up to in the cocktail bars of Las Vegas and Miami. Instead, he held a formal press conference, promising “to start living a life of integrity”. This was shortly before he was caught swearing on camera at his bad swings at the Masters, fined for spitting on the green in Dubai and using his late dad’s words for a Nike ad. Result? No more majors. As PR offensives go, low on good PR but high on the offensive. Of course, if you’re Kanye West, you can call the artist you’ve offended personally, go on a talk show to say sorry, apologise through Twitter and then write her a song. And then take it back. That’s another way.Want to discuss other issues? Join the debate on our new Scottish Voices forum
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