Harding Prizes for Best Crafted Apologies Announced
Tiger Woods, Usher, Rahm Emanuel & Adam Corolla Nab First Annual Hardies
Washington, DC – Over the weekend, the first annual “Harding Prizes” for Best Crafted Apologies of the Year were awarded in a ceremony at American University in Washington, DC. Tiger Woods won a Hardie in the Sports category, and other winners included Rahm Emmanuel for Politics, Usher for Entertainment and Adam Corolla in a special “Best Twitter Apology” category.
“Anyone who has blundered on the public stage can make an earnest apology,” said Harding Institute Sr. Fellow Martin Eisenstadt, who presided over the ceremony at the Kennedy Political Union at American University. “But the real craft of the perfect apology is in giving the impression of sincere contrition while simultaneously shifting blame, changing the subject or in some other way coming out ahead in the court of public opinion. That’s both an art and a science, and it should be recognized for its achievement.”
Complete list of nominees and the reasons cited by the awards committee for their achievement:
SPORTS:
Tiger Woods – WINNER – For shifting focus from him being a serial cheater to his wife not being a domestic abuser, and for his follow-up Nike ad in which he invoked his dead father, made money for Nike, and brought the sexy back to golf.
Mark McGwire – For blaming MLB for not having drug testing back then.
Gilbert Arenas – For asking forgiveness from former Wizards owner Abe Pollin, who is dead.
Tony Kornheiser – For going against the grain and refusing to apologize at all to Hannah Storm.POLITICS:
Rahm Emanuel – WINNER - after calling someone a “f***ing retard” his private apology was accepted publicly by Timothy Shriver (a political ally and Kennedy) on behalf of the Special Olympics, proving that acceptance of apology is more important than apology itself.
Jimmy Carter – For apologizing to the Jews, but then having his apology rejected by the ADL on behalf of the Jews.
Gov. Mark Sanford – For talking about his mistress as a soul mate while apologizing to soon-to-be ex-wife.
Michael Steele – For apologizing to Rush Limbaugh
Gov. Robert McDonnell – For apologizing to his fellow Virginians, rather than African-Americans in particular
Gen. Stanley McChrystal – For apologizing for Afghan civilian deaths on behalf of “International Security Assistance Force” rather than simply the US.
ENTERTAIMENT:
Usher – WINNER – for brazenly insinuating himself into Chris Brown/Rhianna scandal by apologizing to Chris Brown for privately saying he shouldn’t have been jet skiing and flexing his muscles
David Letterman – For getting ahead of the story by apologizing on air for his affairs before people even knew there was a scandal, and casting himself as the victim of an extortion plot
Jesse James – For distracting from his apology to Sandra Bullock by denying she’d made a sex tape with him
John Mayer – For shifting attention away from his use of the N-word to him having a problem with always trying to be clever and witty
TWITTER:
Adam Corolla – WINNER – For apologizing to Manny Pacquiao and the Philippines for comments he made on his podcast. Used apology to plug podcast no one even knew he had.
John Mayer – His Twitter apology gave him excuse to stop incessant tweeting.
Kim Kardashian – For her apology to Demi Moore over her use of “Big Pimpin”
Kanye West – For his awkward apology to Taylor Swift.
Inspired by Warren Harding’s own famous apology, “I am not fit for this office and should never have been here,” the Harding Prizes were selected by an anonymous blue ribbon panel of historians, scholars and communications experts. Martin Eisenstadt, himself an expert on political apologies, recently wrote the book “I Am Martin Eisenstadt: One Man’s (Wildly Inappropriate) Adventures with the Last Republicans,” available from Farrar, Straus, Giroux. For questions or hi-res still photos, please go to: http://www.hardinginstitute.org/11.html or contact publicist Eli Perle at eli.perle@provocationent.com.
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