tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/charlie-rose-47573/articlesCharlie Rose – The Conversation2019-09-23T11:34:59Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1239712019-09-23T11:34:59Z2019-09-23T11:34:59Z3 tips for Justin Trudeau on how to say ‘I’m sorry’<p>“I’m sorry.”</p>
<p>These two words may seem simple, but the ability to express them when you’re in the wrong is anything but – particularly for those in the public eye. </p>
<p>Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, to name a recent example, <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2019/09/20/justin-trudeau-says-hell-ban-military-style-weapons/2388136001/">had to apologize several times</a> since a photo and a video of him in brownface and blackface makeup surfaced recently. Trudeau’s troubles echo Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam’s <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/01/politics/democrats-call-on-northam-to-resign/index.html">difficulty</a> apologizing for a <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ralph-northam-response-racist-yearbook-photo_us_5c54bca6e4b0871047536bed">photo on his medical school yearbook page</a> of a man in blackface and another wearing the dress of a Ku Klux Klan member.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://www.middlebury.edu/institute/people/lisa-leopold">language scholar</a>, I’ve tried to get to the bottom of just what makes an apology effective by analyzing dozens of mea culpas. While some offered authentic apologies, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/10/05/us/statement-from-harvey-weinstein.html?mtrref=www.wmagazine.com">many more seemed defensive</a>, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/31/us/southwest-airlines-lindsay-gottlieb-biracial-baby-trnd/index.html">insincere</a> or <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6DOhioBfyY">forced</a>.</p>
<p>With the help of insights from <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/sorry-about-that-9780199300914?cc=us&lang=en&">linguists</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7vP01U8qr4">psychologists</a> and <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10551-011-0915-9">business ethicists</a> who study apologies, I found that there are three main elements each needs to have to be effective.</p>
<h2>Not all apologies are equal</h2>
<p>Much is at stake with a public apology.</p>
<p>When done right, it can rebuild trust and <a href="https://ac.els-cdn.com/S0378216608003007/1-s2.0-S0378216608003007-main.pdf?_tid=65a4d09e-c6be-4eeb-a055-c41490e57dea&acdnat=1549406972_fcd23b7de5022a7f8239b687c7ee5a9d">restore a damaged reputation</a>. However, a poorly crafted apology can lead to widespread criticism and further damage credibility. <a href="https://hbr.org/2015/08/research-for-a-corporate-apology-to-work-the-ceo-should-look-sad">Research shows</a> that the <a href="https://on.ft.com/2DmdS1n">way a company crafts an apology</a> can even affect its future financial performance. Leaders who apologize <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/225822507_Apologies_and_Transformational_Leadership">tend to be viewed more favorably</a> than those who don’t.</p>
<p>In “<a href="https://www.moodypublishers.com/books/marriage-and-family/when-sorry-isnt-enough/">When Sorry Isn’t Enough: Making Things Right with Those You Love</a>,” Gary Chapman and Jennifer Thomas cite a survey of what people preferred in an apology. It found that almost four-fifths wanted their would-be penitent to either express regret or accept responsibility, as opposed to make restitution, repent or seek forgiveness. </p>
<p>In 2011, David Boyd, now dean emeritus at Northeastern University’s D’Amore-McKim School of Business, <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10551-011-0915-9">identified seven strategies</a> that make public apologies effective. I believe three of them – revelation, responsibility and recognition – are the most significant because they overlap with those identified by prominent scholars in other fields, including <a href="https://docs.google.com/a/umn.edu/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=dW1uLmVkdXxhbmRyZXdkY29oZW58Z3g6MTRlNmUzYWUxMGJmZjMxZg">linguists Andrew Cohen and Elite Olshtain</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7vP01U8qr4">psychologist Robert Gordon</a>. </p>
<p>That is, an admission for the lapse using the words “I am sorry” or “I apologize,” ownership for the offense and empathy for those who have been hurt all contribute to an effective apology. But it’s not enough for an apology just to contain these three ingredients. It’s also about the exact wording used.</p>
<p>In my analysis of infamous public apologies that celebrities, CEOs and political figures have delivered over the past two years, I was looking for how they fared according to Boyd’s standards of revelation, responsibility and recognition. I also closely examined the language of each apology, applying many insights from linguist Edwin Battistella’s book “<a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/sorry-about-that-9780199300914?cc=us&lang=en&">Sorry About That: The Language of Public Apology</a>.”</p>
<h2>1. ‘I am sorry’</h2>
<p>This may seem obvious but sadly isn’t: Any respectable apology must include an actual apology with a specific acknowledgment of what was done. Surprisingly, some people attempting to own up to something never get around to actually apologizing. </p>
<p>Comedian Louis C.K., for example, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/10/arts/television/louis-ck-statement.html">never actually used words</a> like “apologize” or “sorry” after <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/09/arts/television/louis-ck-sexual-misconduct.html?module=inline">being accused of sexual misconduct</a> by several women. He called the stories “true” and said he was “remorseful” but dodged the actual apology. </p>
<p>Others try to apologize in a general way to avoid being pinned down to a specific transgression, weakening the impact. Or they may admit to a lesser offense. A case in point is <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2017/12/28/apple-apologizes-for-not-being-clearer-about-slowing-down-iphones-with-older-batteries/">Apple’s non-apology apology</a> in December 2017 over the performance of iPhone batteries.</p>
<p>“We’ve been hearing feedback from our customers about the way we handle performance for iPhones with older batteries and how we have communicated that process,” the company said. “We know that some of you feel Apple has let you down. We apologize.”</p>
<p>Was Apple apologizing for the poor-performing batteries, its communication process or the feelings of its customers? Distancing the actual apology from the transgressions is a common tactic in corporate apologies, used in recent years both by <a href="https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/Discrimination-and-Belonging/td-p/191832">Airbnb</a> and <a href="https://www.bizjournals.com/portland/news/2018/04/16/uber-tries-to-make-nice-with-the-city-of-portland.html">Uber</a> as well.</p>
<h2>2. ‘I did it’</h2>
<p>Any well-crafted apology must claim responsibility for the transgression – not attribute one’s actions to happenstance or external factors.</p>
<p>Amid the Cambridge Analytica scandal, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6DOhioBfyY">Facebook</a> CEO Mark Zuckerberg used the passive voice to distance himself from any wrongdoing: “I’m really sorry that this happened,” he said in an interview to CNN.</p>
<p>That wasn’t the first time he used the passive voice this way. In an earlier <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-facebook-zuckerberg/zuckerberg-seeks-forgiveness-for-division-caused-by-his-work-idUSKCN1C61XY">apology issued in 2017</a> after Facebook was criticized for Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election, he said, “For the ways my work was used to divide people rather than bring us together, I ask forgiveness and I will work to do better.” </p>
<p>The choice of the passive suggests that he has little control over the ways his work was used by others.</p>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/charlierose/status/932747035069034496">Another example</a> is Charlie Rose, a television journalist <a href="https://www.adweek.com/tvnewser/cbs-fired-charlie-rose-one-year-ago-today/385128">fired by CBS</a> following accusations of sexual misconduct. He issued an apology in the following manner: “I have learned a great deal as a result of these events, and I hope others will too. All of us, including me, are coming to a newer and deeper recognition of the pain caused by conduct in the past, and have come to a profound new respect for women and their lives.”</p>
<p>By including himself as one of several people and embedding his actions as part of a broader group’s actions, he minimized responsibility for his own transgressions.</p>
<p>Others simply try to deflect attention from the transgression as part of an apology, as actor <a href="https://twitter.com/KevinSpacey/status/924848412842971136">Kevin Spacey</a> did when he announced his sexual orientation instead of apologizing over accusations he sexually assaulted a massage therapist, or like disgraced media mogul Harvey Weinstein’s <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/10/05/us/statement-from-harvey-weinstein.html?mtrref=www.wmagazine.com">vow to direct his anger to the National Rifle Association</a> when he was accused of sexual misconduct.</p>
<p>In contrast, Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson in April 2018 gave an <a href="https://news.starbucks.com/views/a-follow-up-message-from-starbucks-ceo-in-philadelphia">example of an apology</a> that takes real ownership after two African American men were arrested while waiting for a friend at one of his stores: “These two gentlemen did not deserve what happened, and we are accountable. I am accountable.”</p>
<h2>3. ‘I feel your pain’</h2>
<p>Finally, apologies should meet the standard of recognition: expressing empathy to those who have been hurt.</p>
<p>Many so-called apologies fail to acknowledge victims’ feelings, focusing instead on justifications or excuses. For example, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/13/entertainment/henry-cavill-me-too-apology/index.html">actor Henry Cavill apologized</a> for his controversial statements about the #MeToo movement by saying he’s sorry for “any confusion and misunderstanding that” his comments created. In doing so, he insinuated that there was no transgressor or victim, as more than one party is typically to blame for a misunderstanding.</p>
<p>Expressions of empathy are further weakened anytime a word such as “may” is used to cast doubt on whether the transgression had a negative impact on others. In <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/russell-simmons-pens-response-sexual-assault-allegations-1061061">an apology issued</a> by the record producer Russell Simmons for sexual misconduct, his use of “may” ultimately suggests that women may or may not have been offended by his actions: “For any women from my past who I may have offended, I sincerely apologize. I am still evolving.”</p>
<p>Furthermore, those last four words show that he’s focusing on his own growth, rather than the pain of his victims.</p>
<p>So if you’re finding it difficult to parse the multitude of public apologies, look closely for these three ingredients, along with the language each uses. </p>
<p><em>This is an updated version of an <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-say-im-sorry-whether-youve-appeared-in-a-racist-photo-harassed-women-or-just-plain-screwed-up-107678">article originally published</a> on Feb. 8, 2019.</em></p>
<p>[ <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=expertise">Expertise in your inbox. Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter and get a digest of academic takes on today’s news, every day.</a></em> ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/123971/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lisa Leopold does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Canadian prime minister is the latest public figure struggling to apologize for past misbehavior. A language scholar explains how to do it right.Lisa Leopold, Associate Professor of English Language Studies, The Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, MiddleburyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1076782019-02-08T19:49:57Z2019-02-08T19:49:57ZHow to say ‘I’m sorry,’ whether you’ve appeared in a racist photo, harassed women or just plain screwed up<p>“I’m sorry.”</p>
<p>These two words may seem simple, but the ability to express them when you’re in the wrong is anything but – particularly for those in the public eye. </p>
<p>Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, to name a recent example, <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ralph-northam-response-racist-yearbook-photo_us_5c54bca6e4b0871047536bed">was forced to apologize</a> after his 1984 medical school yearbook page resurfaced showing two unnamed men, one with blackface and another wearing the Ku Klux Klan’s white hood and robe. That he seriously botched his effort to apologize is arguably one of the reasons <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/md-gov-hogan-calls-on-virginias-northam-to-resign/2019/02/06/056e6d78-2a41-11e9-984d-9b8fba003e81_story.html">many people</a> are still <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/01/politics/democrats-call-on-northam-to-resign/index.html">calling on him</a> to resign. </p>
<p>As a <a href="https://www.middlebury.edu/institute/people/lisa-leopold">language scholar</a>, I wanted to get to the bottom of just what makes an apology effective by analyzing dozens of mea culpas. While some offered authentic apologies, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/10/05/us/statement-from-harvey-weinstein.html?mtrref=www.wmagazine.com">many more seemed defensive</a>, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/31/us/southwest-airlines-lindsay-gottlieb-biracial-baby-trnd/index.html">insincere</a> or <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6DOhioBfyY">forced</a>.</p>
<p>With the help of insights from <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/sorry-about-that-9780199300914?cc=us&lang=en&">linguists</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7vP01U8qr4">psychologists</a> and <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10551-011-0915-9">business ethicists</a> who study apologies, I found that there are three main elements each needs to have to be effective.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/257115/original/file-20190204-193226-1o4ofl3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/257115/original/file-20190204-193226-1o4ofl3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/257115/original/file-20190204-193226-1o4ofl3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/257115/original/file-20190204-193226-1o4ofl3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/257115/original/file-20190204-193226-1o4ofl3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/257115/original/file-20190204-193226-1o4ofl3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/257115/original/file-20190204-193226-1o4ofl3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Demonstrators call for Northam’s resignation.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Governor-Klan-Blackface/6ceb35ad4abf48e88eddbc6986c65e97/15/0">AP Photo/Steve Helber</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Not all apologies are equal</h2>
<p>Much is at stake with a public apology.</p>
<p>When done right, it can rebuild trust and <a href="https://ac.els-cdn.com/S0378216608003007/1-s2.0-S0378216608003007-main.pdf?_tid=65a4d09e-c6be-4eeb-a055-c41490e57dea&acdnat=1549406972_fcd23b7de5022a7f8239b687c7ee5a9d">restore a damaged reputation</a>. However, a poorly crafted apology can lead to widespread criticism and further damage credibility. <a href="https://hbr.org/2015/08/research-for-a-corporate-apology-to-work-the-ceo-should-look-sad">Research shows</a> that the <a href="https://on.ft.com/2DmdS1n">way a company crafts an apology</a> can even affect its future financial performance and that leaders who apologize <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/225822507_Apologies_and_Transformational_Leadership">tend to be viewed more favorably</a> than those who don’t.</p>
<p>In “<a href="https://www.moodypublishers.com/books/marriage-and-family/when-sorry-isnt-enough/">When Sorry Isn’t Enough: Making Things Right with Those You Love</a>,” Gary Chapman and Jennifer Thomas cite a survey of what people preferred most in an apology. It found that almost four-fifths wanted their would-be penitent to either express regret or accept responsibility, as opposed to make restitution, repent or seek forgiveness. </p>
<p>In 2011, David Boyd, now dean emeritus at Northeastern University’s D’Amore-McKim School of Business, <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10551-011-0915-9">identified seven strategies</a> that make public apologies effective. I believe three of them – revelation, responsibility and recognition – are the most significant because they overlap with those identified by prominent scholars in other fields, including <a href="https://docs.google.com/a/umn.edu/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=dW1uLmVkdXxhbmRyZXdkY29oZW58Z3g6MTRlNmUzYWUxMGJmZjMxZg">linguists Andrew Cohen and Elite Olshtain</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7vP01U8qr4">psychologist Robert Gordon</a>. </p>
<p>That is, an admission for the lapse using the words “I am sorry” or “I apologize,” ownership for the offense and empathy for those who have been hurt all contribute to an effective apology. But it’s not enough for an apology just to contain these three ingredients. It’s also about the exact wording used.</p>
<p>In my analysis of infamous public apologies that celebrities, CEOs and political figures have delivered over the past two years, I was looking for how they fared according to Boyd’s standards of revelation, responsibility and recognition. I also closely examined the language of each apology, applying many insights from linguist Edwin Battistella’s book “<a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/sorry-about-that-9780199300914?cc=us&lang=en&">Sorry About That: The Language of Public Apology</a>.”</p>
<h2>1. ‘I am sorry’</h2>
<p>This may seem obvious but sadly isn’t: Any respectable apology must include an actual apology with a specific acknowledgment of what was done. Surprisingly, some people attempting to own up to something never get around to actually apologizing. </p>
<p>Comedian Louis C.K., for example, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/10/arts/television/louis-ck-statement.html">never actually used words</a> like “apologize” or “sorry” after <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/09/arts/television/louis-ck-sexual-misconduct.html?module=inline">being accused of sexual misconduct</a> by several women. He called the stories “true” and said he was “remorseful” but dodged the actual apology. </p>
<p>Others try to apologize in a general way to avoid being pinned down to a specific transgression, weakening the impact. Or they may admit to a lesser offense. A case in point is <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2017/12/28/apple-apologizes-for-not-being-clearer-about-slowing-down-iphones-with-older-batteries/">Apple’s non-apology apology</a> in December 2017 over the performance of iPhone batteries.</p>
<p>“We’ve been hearing feedback from our customers about the way we handle performance for iPhones with older batteries and how we have communicated that process,” the company said. “We know that some of you feel Apple has let you down. We apologize.”</p>
<p>Was Apple apologizing for the poor-performing batteries, its communication process or the feelings of its customers? Distancing the actual apology from the transgressions is a common tactic in corporate apologies, used in recent years both by <a href="https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/Discrimination-and-Belonging/td-p/191832">Airbnb</a> and <a href="https://www.bizjournals.com/portland/news/2018/04/16/uber-tries-to-make-nice-with-the-city-of-portland.html">Uber</a> as well.</p>
<h2>2. ‘I did it’</h2>
<p>Any well-crafted apology must claim responsibility for the transgression – not attribute one’s actions to happenstance or external factors.</p>
<p>Amid the Cambridge Analytica scandal, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6DOhioBfyY">Facebook</a> CEO Mark Zuckerberg used the passive voice to distance himself from any wrongdoing: “I’m really sorry that this happened,” he said in an interview to CNN.</p>
<p>That wasn’t the first time he used the passive voice this way. In an earlier <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-facebook-zuckerberg/zuckerberg-seeks-forgiveness-for-division-caused-by-his-work-idUSKCN1C61XY">apology issued in 2017</a> after Facebook was criticized for Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election, he said, “For the ways my work was used to divide people rather than bring us together, I ask forgiveness and I will work to do better.” </p>
<p>The choice of the passive suggests that he has little control over the ways his work was used by others.</p>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/charlierose/status/932747035069034496">Another example</a> is Charlie Rose, a television journalist <a href="https://www.adweek.com/tvnewser/cbs-fired-charlie-rose-one-year-ago-today/385128">fired by CBS</a> following accusations of sexual misconduct. He issued an apology in the following manner: “I have learned a great deal as a result of these events, and I hope others will too. All of us, including me, are coming to a newer and deeper recognition of the pain caused by conduct in the past, and have come to a profound new respect for women and their lives.”</p>
<p>By including himself as one of several people and embedding his actions as part of a broader group’s actions, he minimized responsibility for his own transgressions.</p>
<p>Others simply try to deflect attention from the transgression as part of an apology, as actor <a href="https://twitter.com/KevinSpacey/status/924848412842971136">Kevin Spacey</a> did when he announced his sexual orientation or like disgraced media mogul Harvey Weinstein’s <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/10/05/us/statement-from-harvey-weinstein.html?mtrref=www.wmagazine.com">vow to direct his anger to the National Rifle Association</a>.</p>
<p>In contrast, Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson in April 2018 gave an <a href="https://news.starbucks.com/views/a-follow-up-message-from-starbucks-ceo-in-philadelphia">example of an apology</a> that takes real ownership after two African-American men were arrested while waiting for a friend at one of his stores: “These two gentlemen did not deserve what happened, and we are accountable. I am accountable.”</p>
<h2>3. ‘I feel your pain’</h2>
<p>Finally, apologies should meet the standard of recognition: expressing empathy to those who have been hurt.</p>
<p>Many so-called apologies fail to acknowledge victims’ feelings, focusing instead on justifications or excuses. For example, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/13/entertainment/henry-cavill-me-too-apology/index.html">actor Henry Cavill apologized</a> for his controversial statements about the #MeToo movement by saying he’s sorry for “any confusion and misunderstanding that” his comments created. In doing so, he insinuated that there was no transgressor or victim, as more than one party is typically to blame for a misunderstanding.</p>
<p>Expressions of empathy are further weakened anytime a modal such as “may” is used to cast doubt on whether the transgression had a negative impact on others. In <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/russell-simmons-pens-response-sexual-assault-allegations-1061061">an apology issued</a> by the record producer Russell Simmons for sexual misconduct, his use of “may” ultimately suggests that women may or may not have been offended by his actions: “For any women from my past who I may have offended, I sincerely apologize. I am still evolving.”</p>
<p>Furthermore, those last four words show that he’s focusing on his own growth, rather than the pain of his victims.</p>
<h2>Failing to apologize</h2>
<p>Returning to Northam, his apology failed to live up to all three strategies. </p>
<p>After initially accepting that one of the men was him, he quickly reversed himself, expressing contrition while distancing himself from the racist photo. And then his apology included the vague wording “for the decision I made to appear as I did,” which hardly constitutes a worthy admission of wrongdoing. </p>
<p>Referring to his actions as “this” rather than “my” minimizes ownership. And rather than accepting responsibility, <a href="https://www.13newsnow.com/article/news/local/mycity/norfolk/democrat-virginia-gov-ralph-northam-will-not-resign-northam-says-it-wasnt-him-in-photo/291-149fb35a-dc3b-4241-9211-e1721ba756dd">he pleads with the public</a> not to let his past behavior shape how they see him.</p>
<p>So if you’re finding it difficult to parse the multitude of public apologies in the mainstream media, look closely for these three ingredients, along with the language each uses.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/107678/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lisa Leopold does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Trying to figure out if Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam or other would-be penitents are sincere? A scholar who analyzed dozens of recent apologies offers a user’s guide.Lisa Leopold, Associate Professor of English Language Studies, The Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, MiddleburyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1030412018-09-12T18:46:02Z2018-09-12T18:46:02ZHow Les Moonves got to leave CBS on his own terms while others in #MeToo miscreant club got canned<p>On Sept. 9, CBS Chairman Les Moonves resigned, following <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/08/06/les-moonves-and-cbs-face-allegations-of-sexual-misconduct">accusations by 12</a> <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/as-leslie-moonves-negotiates-his-exit-from-cbs-women-raise-new-assault-and-harassment-claims">women</a> of harassment and assault.</p>
<p>His departure, however, has not followed the script of other executives publicly shamed over harassment allegations and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/11/10/us/men-accused-sexual-misconduct-weinstein.html">thrown out onto the curb</a>. </p>
<p>Unlike television hosts <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/29/business/media/nbc-matt-lauer.html">Matt Lauer</a> or <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/21/business/media/charlie-rose-fired-cbs.html">Charlie Rose</a>, he kept his job for several weeks after The New Yorker published the first of two articles on his alleged transgressions, which contained accounts from six accusers. Lauer and Rose were fired within days.</p>
<p>Moonves was also able to negotiate an <a href="http://investors.cbscorporation.com/node/27191/html">exit package</a> with a number of face-saving provisions, including the opportunity to resign, a temporary non-disparagement clause, and confidentiality of the results of the CBS internal investigation currently underway. </p>
<p>He also retains the theoretical, if unlikely, possibility of receiving a portion of his more than US$180 million severance package, pending the outcome of that investigation.</p>
<p>Why was Moonves allowed to stick around and leave on his own terms, when so many others were unceremoniously dumped? CBS – which could have easily stuck to the script – isn’t saying. </p>
<p>But I have a different theory, based on the timing of the deal and the contracts involved, where Moonves was used as a shield in an unrelated power play. If true, it reveals how #MeToo has become more than just a movement in the corridors of corporate power. </p>
<h2>Firing Moonves for ‘cause’</h2>
<p>Back in July, when The New Yorker published its first story, the CBS board would have been within its rights to fire Moonves based on harassment allegations from two former CBS employees, as well as a job candidate he reportedly assaulted during a pitch meeting. </p>
<p>Under CBS’s employment contract with Moonves, the company could have fired Moonves for “cause” with no severance package or settlement. The definition of “cause” included a “willful and material violation of any company policy,” including the <a href="https://cdn.theconversation.com/static_files/files/280/2016_CBS_Corporation_BCS.pdf?1536781333">harassment policy</a>, that proved <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cbs-les-moonves-sexual-stock-price-2018-7">harmful</a> to the company.</p>
<p>As a former employment lawyer, I don’t think CBS’ lawyers would have had trouble finding language in the <a href="https://cdn.theconversation.com/static_files/files/280/2016_CBS_Corporation_BCS.pdf?1536781333">harassment policy</a> to support a “cause” determination. Prohibited conduct includes “threaten(ing) or engag(ing) in retaliation after an overture or inappropriate conduct is rejected,” “a pattern of unwanted advances” and “unwanted touching.” </p>
<p>In other words, Moonves could have been fired summarily in July, just as CBS didn’t hesitate to end the career of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/21/business/media/charlie-rose-fired-cbs.html">one of his employees</a>, Charlie Rose, back in November.</p>
<p>Given the taint surrounding men accused of this kind of behavior ever since #MeToo became a household word in October, why did CBS keep him around? </p>
<p>It’s possible directors on the CBS board didn’t consider the initial allegations sufficient to warrant termination. However, I would attribute their hesitation in part to an unrelated lawsuit – and their hope that Moonves could be a useful bargaining chip.</p>
<h2>Moonves v. Redstone</h2>
<p>For the last six months, CBS has been <a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=6531012443734105408">caught up in a lawsuit</a> with its majority shareholder, National Amusements. That company is owned by 95-year-old business magnate Sumner Redstone and now run by his daughter Shari.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://variety.com/2018/biz/news/cbs-sues-shari-redstone-national-amusements-in-bid-to-block-viacom-merger-1202809526/">lawsuit</a> centers around a disagreement over the Redstones’ wish to merge CBS with Viacom, another company they own.</p>
<p>Moonves and a faction of the CBS board tried to thwart the Redstones by voting to dilute their powerful Class A shares, which give them control of the network. CBS basically proposed giving Class B investors the same voting rights. </p>
<p>This was like resolving a fight over the executive bathroom by giving keys to everyone at the company. Technically, you’re not taking anything away. Except that you’ve transformed it into a regular bathroom.</p>
<p>Both sides sued over this coup-by-dilution, and the trial was <a href="https://variety.com/2018/biz/news/cbs-national-amusements-settlement-talks-leslie-moonves-shari-redstone-1202928317/">scheduled to start</a> Oct. 3. As the parties engaged in settlement talks, the stakes were high. But it also gave Moonves some unexpected leverage.</p>
<h2>Settling scores</h2>
<p>Negotiation scholars note that bargaining power comes from your own ability to <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/324551/getting-to-yes-by-roger-fisher-and-william-ury/9780143118756/">walk away</a> from a deal. And your ability to make life painful for those on the <a href="http://www.fnc.roundtablecenter.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/01/hbr-masterful-negotiating-2d-edition.pdf">other side of the table</a> if they don’t agree to your terms.</p>
<p>Although <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/12/business/cbs-les-moonves-board.html">some directors</a> on the board were so loyal to Moonves that they were apparently indifferent to the allegations, even independent board members may have faced a difficult choice. CBS needed the pretense of keeping Moonves in order to negotiate a favorable settlement deal with the Redstones. Moonves was likely to be an important witness at trial. </p>
<p>If CBS fired him before settling with the Redstones, he might not cooperate in court. That would erode CBS’ trial prospects and thus its bargaining position with Redstone.</p>
<p>At the same time, Moonves’ contract was also a pain point for the Redstones. </p>
<p>That’s because Moonves’ contract also had a provision known as a <a href="https://hbr.org/2016/10/a-short-history-of-golden-parachutes">“golden parachute”</a> clause. A golden parachute entitles an executive to a massive payout if certain changes are made to the company.</p>
<p><iframe id="vqVIZ" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/vqVIZ/7/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/813828/000119312517116304/d368348ddef14a.htm">golden parachute</a> allowed Moonves to resign and receive a monstrous $182 million exit package – for a “good reason” resignation – if the Redstones wanted to change the composition of the board or force the company into a merger.</p>
<p>In other words, even if the Redstones won the lawsuit and kept their controlling stake, they wouldn’t be able to make big changes without enriching Moonves. This would be the pain – a controlling stake that can’t actually be wielded without awarding your adversary a mountain of cash.</p>
<p>So, I believe the swing votes on the CBS board sat on their hands in August – even as they confidentially learned of an <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/12/business/cbs-les-moonves-board.html">attempted cover-up</a> by Moonves. They wanted that settlement with Redstone before cutting Moonves loose.</p>
<h2>The #MeToo movement presents a curveball</h2>
<p>Moonves likely used this time to negotiate his own exit. </p>
<p>But the #MeToo movement wasn’t done. On Sept. 9, The New Yorker published <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/as-leslie-moonves-negotiates-his-exit-from-cbs-women-raise-new-assault-and-harassment-claims">fresh accusations</a> against Moonves, and his options dwindled. </p>
<p>His settlement package mostly consists of CBS promising to do things it was willing to do anyway. Keep matters secret. Let the internal investigation run its course. <a href="https://mashable.com/article/les-moonves-leaves-cbs/">Donate $20 million</a> to the #MeToo movement to rebuild its reputation. </p>
<p>The high stakes game of chicken with Redstone had crumbled. CBS really could no longer credibly say it wanted Moonves to stay.</p>
<p>Hours later, CBS <a href="https://www.cbscorporation.com/cbs-corporation-and-national-amusements-announce-resolution-of-governance-disputes-and-transition-to-new-leadership/">announced</a> both the settlement of the lawsuit and Moonves’ departure.</p>
<h2>What it means</h2>
<p>This isn’t the first time, and probably won’t be the last, that the #MeToo movement collided with other business interests – for better or for worse. </p>
<p>Harvey Weinstein’s victims may have decided to go public against him last year at least in part because his power in the industry was already <a href="http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-harvey-weinstein-rise-fall-20171008-story.html">on the decline</a>. While #MeToo revelations fueled the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/08/business/nike-harassment.html">leadership shakeup</a> at Nike earlier this year, they apparently gained added force through an unrelated corporate <a href="https://www.oregonlive.com/expo/news/erry-2018/07/93d33bff127706/vanquishing_team_edwards_a_new.html">power struggle</a>. </p>
<p>Like any social movement that resides in the workplace, #MeToo can be attractive to competing business interests within an organization. For example, in the 1970s and 1980s, human resources departments capitalized on civil rights laws to cement their internal status and expertise, as sociologists <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/titles/8909.html">Frank Dobbin</a> and <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/W/bo24550454.html">Lauren Edelman</a> have documented.</p>
<p>For the #MeToo movement, the Moonves story is a partial victory, clouded by the board’s delay and his face-saving exit. But in a way, that’s okay. Business is messy. And the #MeToo movement is still very much at the table.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/103041/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elizabeth C. Tippett does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Moonves, accused by 12 women of sexual harassment and assault, managed to walk away with a face-saving exit package that may even include some of his $182 million severance.Elizabeth C. Tippett, Associate Professor, School of Law, University of OregonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/904252018-01-30T11:34:45Z2018-01-30T11:34:45ZThe art of the public apology<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/203862/original/file-20180129-89590-874dbx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">What does it mean when public figures say sorry?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Paul Sancya</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Just prior to his sentencing, former USA Gymnastics physician Larry Nassar formally <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/01/24/us/larry-nassar-full-statement/index.html">apologized</a> to the more than 160 women whom he’d sexually abused. He joins a growing list. Over the past few months, <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/movies/2017/10/05/harvey-weinstein-scandal-read-his-full-apology/738093001/">many public personalities</a> <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/inspired-life/wp/2017/11/21/the-recent-tide-of-apologies-by-famous-men-have-been-awful-heres-what-the-men-should-have-said/?utm_term=.fa337d9940f0">accused of sexual assault</a> <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/al-franken-makes-a-new-apology-amid-sexual-harassment-allegations-2017-11">have apologized</a> in public. </p>
<p>Many of us at this point are wondering what these apologies mean. Indeed, like others before him, Nassar said, that an adequate apology was impossible. He stated,</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“There are no words that can describe the depth and breadth of how sorry I am for what has occurred. An acceptable apology to all of you is impossible to write and convey.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>What, then, is it that he and other public figures are doing when they say sorry publicly?</p>
<p>In a <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/after-injury-9780190851972?lang=en&cc=us#">forthcoming book</a>, I look at different kinds of public apologies, including the kind of celebrity apologies we’ve witnessed in the past few months. What I argue is that public apologies are a type of performance and therefore should be understood as being different from private.</p>
<h2>What is a public apology?</h2>
<p>Televised public celebrity apologies, watched by millions, are a relatively recent phenomenon. </p>
<p>In his 1952 <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/09/the-checkers-speech-after-60-years/262172/">“Checkers speech,”</a> televised live to an American public, Richard Nixon, then Republican candidate for vice president of the United States, defended himself against charges of financial impropriety. Nixon did not explicitly apologize, but as journalist <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caryn_James">Caryn James</a> noted, the speech began by <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1998/08/18/us/testing-of-a-president-the-speech-apology-and-defiance-echo-a-nixon-address.html">“sounding apologetic</a>.”</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/203863/original/file-20180129-89593-1ody2b7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/203863/original/file-20180129-89593-1ody2b7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203863/original/file-20180129-89593-1ody2b7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203863/original/file-20180129-89593-1ody2b7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203863/original/file-20180129-89593-1ody2b7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203863/original/file-20180129-89593-1ody2b7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203863/original/file-20180129-89593-1ody2b7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Nixon delivering his ‘Checkers’ speech.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In 1998, in a televised address to the American public, Bill Clinton apologized for his affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Clinton expressed regret but denied responsibility. The apology failed. In a CNN poll taken immediately after, 60 percent of those polled said that Clinton should have explicitly <a href="http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/08/20/time/showtime.html">used the words “I’m sorry.”</a></p>
<p>Less than a month later, at the White House prayer breakfast, Clinton revised the apology. This time Clinton used the language Americans wanted – “I am sorry” – and the biblical terms with which they were familiar – “I have sinned.”</p>
<p>Scholar of public apologies <a href="https://inside.sou.edu/english/faculty/battiste.html">Edwin Battistella</a> noted in his book <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/sorry-about-that-9780199300914?cc=us&lang=en&">“Sorry About That”</a> how this was a successful apology. Indeed, this time <a href="http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stories/1998/12/11/poll/">more people believed</a> they were witnessing sincerity. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/203864/original/file-20180129-89550-1qoyr2s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/203864/original/file-20180129-89550-1qoyr2s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=672&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203864/original/file-20180129-89550-1qoyr2s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=672&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203864/original/file-20180129-89550-1qoyr2s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=672&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203864/original/file-20180129-89550-1qoyr2s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=845&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203864/original/file-20180129-89550-1qoyr2s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=845&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203864/original/file-20180129-89550-1qoyr2s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=845&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">President Clinton offering an apology at the national prayer breakfast.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>And that is the point of a public apology. It can provide public personalities an opportunity to regain public approval. </p>
<h2>The purpose of a public apology</h2>
<p>I would argue that these celebrity apologies are not much different from those offered over criminal violations in court. They are all driven by an ulterior motive. </p>
<p>Take, for example, the case of corporations. As philosopher <a href="https://cola.unh.edu/faculty-member/nick-smith">Nick Smith</a> discusses in his book <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/justice-through-apologies/64C4927EAE2CAD714514FC82FEF1FAFC">“Justice Through Apologies,”</a> they do so to limit their legal liability. Similarly, philosopher <a href="http://homepages.law.asu.edu/%7Ejeffriem/">Jeffrie Murphy</a> <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=DoI3AwAAQBAJ&lpg=PP1&pg=PT120#v=onepage&q&f=false">explains</a> what it means for someone to apologize to the court when a reduction in their sentences is at stake. Nassar’s apology, offered just prior to his sentencing, was a combination of celebrity and court apology.</p>
<p>Apologies, in other words, try to control the damage.</p>
<p>In today’s consumerist society, the public is God. And so the celebrities apologize to us – the public – in a way that people earlier used to appeal to their God. In 1697, for instance, Judge Samuel Sewall went to South Church in Boston to apologize for his role in the Salem witch trials, in which 20 innocent people were executed in a fit of mass hysteria. He asked his fellow congregants for their “pardon,” but <a href="https://archive.org/details/diarysamuelsewa02sewagoog">his appeal</a> was primarily that “God, who has an unlimited authority, would pardon” that sin, and all his other ones.</p>
<p>The public apology today is an act of publicity. Many of the public personalities are appealing to their audience not to boycott their product, which, in other words, is the celebrity. </p>
<h1>Private vs. public</h1>
<p>Private apologies are different. </p>
<p>More often than not, we can assess when someone is sincere by witnessing what she or he does after apologizing. We can see if those who apologize to us have indeed reformed their behavior. We are not in a position to see that in the case of celebrity apologies. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/203872/original/file-20180129-89597-c0nbdb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/203872/original/file-20180129-89597-c0nbdb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203872/original/file-20180129-89597-c0nbdb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203872/original/file-20180129-89597-c0nbdb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203872/original/file-20180129-89597-c0nbdb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203872/original/file-20180129-89597-c0nbdb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203872/original/file-20180129-89597-c0nbdb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Private apologies are different from public ones.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/wiertz/6776802972/in/photolist-bjQTqy-akkZ1y-7HbPjN-acwPy2-47NPAt-6iJktX-5LJgpR-4vguS3-5rBscL-9hLLLM-531jsi-pvUZRg-95Qn3C-7BdMsT-bq3L28-amAL7z-5e6FAL-86kbZ5-brUvps-nAP3Qj-dMDrQ9-6fKvP5-5CKX7k-7nXr5R-7wLQ5b-h9WxW4-75bFvC-6pZApM-6SVhTZ-9RXhVZ-7tc1VJ-LtwZr-ahfkhK-2fHWVj-e3LzD6-aw4LnL-ep28L-4JSkTg-pQnjFz-8fjrnc-7VUrzc-79LYiK-77dg8W-efHUD8-cMMgzd-bAUfpX-pPyRZQ-a9DW4Y-62CcMU-eatvfw">Sebastien Wiertz</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A private apology is generally not a performance. Our friends and lovers apologize to us in private to an audience of one, or few. And they are generally not professional performers. Celebrities and other public personalities are apologizing to an audience of millions. </p>
<p>Private apologies are heard, while public apologies are meant to be overheard.</p>
<h2>Why an apology matters</h2>
<p>Nonetheless, apologies matter in public life, just as they do in private. The important thing about all forms of apologies is that they reveal and alert us to the limits of what is acceptable. </p>
<p>In our personal lives, a person who repeatedly apologizes for the same act or for acts of the same type is revealing the deeper problem behind that behavior (anger, for instance, or disrespect). The victim forgives, if she does, on the understanding that the behavior is unacceptable. </p>
<p>This recent wave of public apologies reveal the outrage against crimes against women and that support from powerful institutions for that behavior is no longer acceptable. </p>
<p>Finally, apologies alert us to their own limits. In our private lives, we recognize that the words “I am sorry” are meaningless without a change in behavior.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/90425/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ashraf Rushdy does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Public apologies are a type of performance before a larger audience, and they are to be understood in terms that are different from a private apology.Ashraf Rushdy, Benjamin Waite Professor of the English Language, Wesleyan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/889212017-12-13T11:24:03Z2017-12-13T11:24:03ZWhat ‘Last Tango in Paris’ teaches my students about sexual ethics<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/198853/original/file-20171212-9451-pqxrp0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Director Bernardo Bertolucci, left, discusses a scene from "Last Tango in Paris" with leading actor Marlon Brando and actress Maria Schneider.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Today’s news is awash with accounts of behind-the-scenes sexual assaults involving such prominent <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/seth-macfarlane-family-guy-called-weinstein-spacey-ratner-rose-before-tidal-wave-allegations-1060966">figures</a> as producer Harvey Weinstein, director Brett Ratner and actor Kevin Spacey. In some cases, colleagues and friends of the accused have expressed disbelief, as in the cases of popular news <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/29/arts/television/matt-lauer-charlie-rose.html">personalities</a> Charlie Rose and Matt Lauer. </p>
<p>In my teaching of ethics at Indiana University, my students and I devote a great deal of attention to classic works in philosophy, such as the ethical <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/book/10.1002/9781444367072">writings</a> of Plato, Aristotle and Tolstoy. But far more recent events provide ample opportunity for ethical reflection and conversation.</p>
<p>One of the most notorious cases of sexual manipulation took place not off screen but right in front of the camera. Its stark visibility provides an opportunity to explore darker sides of human relationships that are usually hidden from view.</p>
<h2>‘Last Tango in Paris’</h2>
<p>The manipulation in question took place during the filming of one of the 1970s most widely discussed and debated films, “Last Tango in Paris.” </p>
<p>The 1972 <a href="http://www.imsdb.com/scripts/Last-Tango-in-Paris.html">film</a> recounts the story of a middle-aged American hotelier whose wife has recently taken her own life. The man (portrayed by Marlon Brando) meets a young French woman (Maria Schneider), and the two begin a sexual relationship that he insists must remain anonymous. </p>
<p>One day, the young woman returns to the site of their encounters only to discover that he has packed his things and departed unannounced. Later he returns, tells that he loves her and asks her name. She pulls a gun from a drawer, tells him her name and then shoots him. As the film ends, she is planning her testimony as a victim of attempted rape by a stranger.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/198854/original/file-20171212-9410-ilautl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/198854/original/file-20171212-9410-ilautl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=931&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/198854/original/file-20171212-9410-ilautl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=931&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/198854/original/file-20171212-9410-ilautl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=931&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/198854/original/file-20171212-9410-ilautl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1169&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/198854/original/file-20171212-9410-ilautl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1169&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/198854/original/file-20171212-9410-ilautl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1169&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bernardo Bertolucci.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The manipulation involved a simulated on-screen sexual <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/wp/2016/12/05/why-the-last-tango-in-paris-rape-scene-is-generating-such-an-outcry-now/?utm_term=.3728713c4112">encounter</a> that proved all too real, in large part because Schneider was not informed about it in advance, and which she – as expected by Bertolucci and Brando – found unbearably degrading.</p>
<p>The film achieved notoriety in part because of its remarkably explicit portrayal of sex and sexual violence. Attempts were made in countries such as the U.K. and the U.S. to <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-38219888">censor</a> the film. Director Bernardo Bertolucci’s native Italy initiated <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1973/02/16/archives/italy-lifts-last-tango-ban.html">criminal</a> proceedings against him.</p>
<p>Not only was the film banned, but prints in Italy were seized, all copies were ordered destroyed and Bertolucci received a suspended prison <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/Century_Of_Films/Story/0,4135,368319,00.html">sentence</a>.</p>
<h2>Manipulation</h2>
<p>The relationship between actors Schneider and Brando was marked by a great imbalance of power. Schneider was 19 when the movie was filmed, while Brando was 48. He was an international star, while she was an unknown. Brando was paid US$3 million, but Schneider received <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/05/movies/revisted-last-tango-in-paris-rape-scene-causes-internet-outcry.html">$4,000</a>. </p>
<p>Years after the film was released, Schneider revealed that she felt manipulated by Bertolucci. Reflecting on the experience in 2007, she told the <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-469646/I-felt-raped-Brando.html">London Daily Mail</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Some mornings on set Bertolucci would say hello and on other days, he wouldn’t say anything at all. I was too young to know better. Marlon later said he [too] felt manipulated, and he was Marlon Brando, so you can imagine how I felt. People thought I was the girl in the movie, but that wasn’t me.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>In retrospect, she said, “I should have called my agent or had my lawyer come to the set, because you can’t force someone to do something that isn’t in the script, but at the time, I didn’t know that. Marlon said, ‘Maria, don’t worry, it’s just a movie,’ but I was crying real tears.”</p>
<h2>The aftermath</h2>
<p>Life after the film was difficult for Schneider. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“I felt very sad because I was treated like a sex symbol but I wanted to be recognized as an actress. The whole scandal and aftermath of the film turned me a little crazy and I had a breakdown.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Though she starred in other films, including 1975’s “The Passenger” with Jack Nicholson, she struggled with depression and drug addiction and even attempted <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/04/movies/04schneider.html">suicide</a> on at least one occasion.</p>
<p>Throughout her subsequent <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/04/movies/04schneider.html">career</a>, Schneider served as an advocate for improving the experience of women in the film industry. She worked for an organization that aims to assist aging actors and directors who are down on their luck. After a career that included approximately 50 films, she died in 2011 at the age of 58. </p>
<h2>Enduring ethical insights</h2>
<p>Schneider’s story reveals several important lessons that deserve particular attention today, when so many reported cases of sexual manipulation occur behind the scenes. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/198857/original/file-20171212-9426-1y0nkgr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/198857/original/file-20171212-9426-1y0nkgr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/198857/original/file-20171212-9426-1y0nkgr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/198857/original/file-20171212-9426-1y0nkgr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/198857/original/file-20171212-9426-1y0nkgr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=562&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/198857/original/file-20171212-9426-1y0nkgr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=562&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/198857/original/file-20171212-9426-1y0nkgr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=562&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">There are important lessons in Maria Schneider’s story.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/files</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>First, although the world of screenplays, cameras and big screens may seem pure make-believe, the actors whose bodies and feelings are portrayed on film remain real. What transpires in front of the camera, as in the case of Schneider, can have enduring and sometimes devastating consequences.</p>
<p>Second, everyone – perhaps especially those involved in the production of news and entertainment – needs to be reminded to take personal responsibility for the protection of human dignity. The mere fact that some individuals happen to be famous, powerful or wealthy in no way absolves them of the responsibility to respect the humanity of others. </p>
<p>In fact, the sense of being above others is one of the most important risk factors for inhumane conduct in any sphere of life, which is why great writers since <a href="https://www.owleyes.org/text/iliad/read/book-i">Homer</a> have been highlighting the common humanity of people of all cultures and walks of life. Philosophers such as <a href="http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/symposium.html">Plato</a> recognized thousands of years ago how problematic it is to treat any person as a tool for another’s gratification.</p>
<p>As my students and I discover in our study of philosophers, the double life of Brando’s character – apparently shared by many of today’s accused abusers – is an intrinsically dangerous one, at least morally speaking. Integrity means more than observing a code of behavior. It means being the same person in all spheres of life, whether in front of the camera or behind it, in a room full of people or one-on-one. </p>
<p>The instant we begin to think that it is acceptable to treat people as <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1088-4963.1995.tb00032.x/abstract">objects</a> – in any setting, ever – is the moment we begin to lose our moral bearings. An object is a thing, not a person, and treating someone as an object stunts the humanity of everyone involved.</p>
<h2>Dangers of objectification</h2>
<p>Schneider longed to revisit her <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/2011/feb/04/local/la-me-maria-schneider-20110204">decision</a> to star in “Last Tango in Paris,” declaring that if she had the opportunity to do it over again, “I would have said no.” </p>
<p>Both Schneider’s experience as an actor in helping to create the film and the viewer’s experience of watching it provide powerful warnings against the dangers of objectification. Though each of us is biologically human, there is another dimension of our being that must be protected and enriched if we are to realize the full measure of our humanity.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/88921/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Richard Gunderman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The important lessons from one of the most notorious cases of sexual manipulation took place not off-screen but right in front of the camera.Richard Gunderman, Chancellor's Professor of Medicine, Liberal Arts, and Philanthropy, Indiana UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.