On June 27, 1995, the Los Angeles Police Department arrested film actor Hugh Grant for engaging in lewd conduct in public with Divine Brown, a Hollywood sex worker. Grant was in California at the time promoting his film Nine Months, and the arrest immediately became a major international tabloid story because he was a rising British star and was publicly associated with actor Elizabeth Hurley. The case was especially damaging because it contrasted sharply with Grant’s public image as a charming romantic-comedy lead. Shortly after his release from custody, Grant issued a brief public statement apologizing for his actions and acknowledging that he had hurt people he loved and embarrassed people he worked with.
Grant then addressed the scandal more directly during a highly rated appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Rather than blaming stress, exhaustion, pressure, loneliness, or any other explanation, Grant rejected excuses and said he had simply done a bad thing. The apology became notable because of its directness and because Grant chose mortification rather than denial or minimization. He admitted wrongdoing, accepted responsibility, and did not try to portray himself as a victim of the press or circumstance. The interview became one of the better-known celebrity apology moments of the 1990s and helped Grant continue his film career after the scandal.
Key Apologia Strategies:
Mortification
Video
Transcript
Formal public statement:
Last night I did something completely insane. I have hurt people I love
and embarrassed people I work with. For both things I am more sorry than I can ever possibly say.
Mea culpa on The Tonight Show:
The thing is people give me tons of ideas on this one. I keep reading new,
you know, psychological theories and stuff like that that I was under pressure,
or I was overtired, or I was lonely, or I fell down the stairs when I was a child,
or whatever. But I I think that would be bollocks to hide behind something like that.
I think you know in life pretty much what’s a good thing to do and what’s a bad thing,
and I did a bad thing. There you have it.
