At that, Linzy had a full pop-star meltdown. She called me some colorful names, flipped off the two hosts, tore off her mic, and stormed out. I just grinned and shrugged my shoulders in disbelief.
“Was it something I said?” I asked.
That got the two hosts laughing. The director was pointing at the teleprompter, trying in vain to get someone’s attention. I could see they weren’t going to be able to read it, so I did.
“Up next, we have …”
At the commercial break, the director told me I could come back anytime. I found Lexi with her ear plastered to her phone.
“He’s right here,” she said and shoved it at me. “It’s Frank.”
Frank Ingram was my publicist.
“I debated whether I should come with you. Now I wish I had,” he began.
“So, this is bad?” I asked.
He was silent for a moment before answering.
“You know, it probably wasn’t. Even though it was a ‘live’ broadcast, they had a delay and bleeped out most of the foul language. I’m sure that clip will be shown at all your upcoming interviews. Let me ponder how to spin this so we get maximum exposure for you and the film without turning this into a political debate. The last thing we want to do is go down that rabbit hole. You would just end up making everyone mad because each side would think you were supporting the other. We have to be careful,” Frank explained.
There was nothing I wanted less than to cause our movie to lose viewers because of my misstep. I hadn’t even thought of that angle when I asked her. She’d made the statement to express her political views. And I could see how people might infer that I was also trying to make some sort of statement when all I’d done was ask out of interest. I would rather have everyone believe I was naïve than that I was stirring the political pot. People took that kind of stuff way too seriously.
When I got off the phone, a representative from the show stopped me.
“CNBC would like to interview you today. Can we set something up?” she asked.
My first thought was, ‘Hell, no,’ but I bit my tongue.
“Call my publicist. He knows my schedule and arranges all this for me,” I said with a smile plastered on my face. “I had a great time. Thank you for having me, but I must get going. I have a few more of these to do today.”
She nodded, and I gave her Frank’s contact information. I quickly walked to where Lexi, Brook, and Fritz had waited.
“That went well,” I announced.
◊◊◊
The next interview was done without Linzy. She’d pulled a no-show. They had a clip from her video, so I told them to play it, and I would talk about her talent. It turned out to be a good interview because I was able to make fun of my singing in the movie. Frank had always told me that if I poked fun at myself, it made me more ‘relatable.’
It wasn’t until we left the building that the media first accosted us. When I say media, it wasn’t the usual paparazzi. We were talking actual news trucks with cameramen and reporters wanting the scoop on Linzy’s meltdown.
Fritz said a bad word when he saw them camped outside the studio.
“I’ll call Frank,” Lexi said and quickly was on the phone.
“Does this happen often?” Brook asked as she eyed the press.
We’d retreated to the back of the lobby when we saw what awaited us.
“Sometimes. In LA, it’s more the gossip types wanting to get a picture. I imagine this bunch wants to make news with my slip-up,” I explained.
“Frank says to ignore them for now and go to your next interview. He’s in touch with them, negotiating your appearances,” Lexi said.
“That doesn’t sound ominous at all,” Brook offered.
She was right. I might have just touched the third rail and fried our movie.
Fritz sent a text, and our car pulled up. Lexi and Brook climbed in first, and when Fritz had them safely in the car, he came back and got me.
“Should Linzy keep her word and leave the country?”
“What’s your take on the election?”
“What’s your opinion on today’s text from the president?”
The press continued to shout questions as Fritz made a hole to the car. I plastered a strained grin on my face as I made my way. Everything inside me wanted to stop and make some kind of comment. If I let them go on much longer, the talking heads would just fill in their own narrative and ignore what I finally said. I had one foot in the door of the car when I stopped and turned around. Fritz glared at me, but I gave him a look to give me some room.
“Back up,” he ordered.
I gave them my best winning smile.
“Hey, I think everyone has gotten what happened this morning all wrong,” I started but was drowned out by a sea of questions.
If I ever was inclined to go into politics, this would surely cure me. I’d thought the paparazzi were irritating. The press was ten times worse. I just stood there as they shouted questions. I’d learned that silence wasn’t your enemy. They wouldn’t show two minutes of me smiling at them as they made fools of themselves. They would only show the sound bite that would be put on the news. My goal was to make it short and sweet.
