No publicist wants to be the center of the story.
So ID-PR’s Bryna Rifkin can’t be thrilled about an embarrassing clip from the Toronto Film Festival which is trending on the Internet.
The video shows the smug-looking flak belittling an eager red carpet reporter in true Mean Girls fashion. The journalist’s offence? Wanting to ask Rifkin’s client Marion Cotillard a few questions to promote her new movie “Blood Ties.”
New York City p.r.’s are divided on Rifkin’s snark.
“I’m embarrassed for her,” writes independent publicist Juli Nadler on the Facebook group PR, Marketing and Media Czars. “She was smirky, self-important, snotty and mean for the sake of being mean.”
Adds Jono Waks: “I run the red carpet all the time and there are nice ways to say no.”
The Creative Group’s Jamie Roberts jumps to her defense. “Sometimes your word has to be law and people have to listen,” she remarks.