In this post, I comment on the importance of making sure the things you say are credible, believable, and airtight. Recent public examples show this is not always the case.

Over more than 45 years advising clients and others on proper communication techniques and responses – especially when dealing with delicate or polarizing issues or crises – the DTSSTY Principle I encourage people to follow still rings true. It stands for Does This Sound Stupid To You? And if what you are about to say in public does sound stupid when you say it aloud to yourself, by all means do NOT let those words escape your mouth when anyone else is listening.

Read or watch the news on any given day and you will find multiple examples of terrible public statements and comments. Glancing at news reports this morning (June 9, 2025) I found these examples of stupid-sounding public responses:

1. A racist tweet by actress Roseanne Barr is 2018 resulted in her career taking a nosedive. Now, eight years later when given a great opportunity to make a statement in opposition of racism, Barr chose to blame her previous rant on the Almighty. “The way I feel about it is God told me to do what I did, and it was a nuclear bomb,”¹ Barr said. Blaming God for your human actions is a sure way to fail the DTSSTY test. 

2. With DNA and other evidence piling up in the multiple murder case against Rex Heuermann, his wife, Asa Ellerup, expressed her support for her husband during an interview for the upcoming docuseries on Peacock, “The Gilgo Beach Killer: House of Secrets.” A spouse expressing faith in and support for his or her partner is one thing. Ellerup took it a step further by calling Heuermann her “hero” and expressing no knowledge or suspicion about her husband’s alleged crimes. “I want him to come back home to me,” Ellerup said. “They’re trying to sit there and tell me that, but I have no knowledge of what they keep talking about. ‘Oh, you must have known.’ Know what? My husband was home here. He’s a family man, period.”² She went further, saying she filed for divorce from Heuermann solely as a financial tactic to protect the couple’s assets, and comparing her first visit to see Heuermann in prison to going on a first date. “I hadn’t seen him in all this time, and when I went down there, I was excited, and like I was, I don’t know, I guess on a first date. You’re nervous, you’re scared. You don’t know how the date is gonna go,” Ellerup said.³ Maintaining empathy for a woman whose husband is charged as being a serial killer is more difficult when people have been murdered and she is talking about first dates in prison. Time will tell how Ellerup is perceived following the docuseries, but it is likely she will lose some of the empathy the public has for her.

3. This example shows both poor and good comments in the same story about the 2025 French Open women’s championship match. Both finalists are given the microphone at the trophy ceremonies following Grand Slam tournaments, and that can lead to some questionable and poorly chosen statements. After losing in the final, Aryna Sabalenka said, “I think she (Coco Gauff) won the match not because she played incredible; just because I made all of those mistakes…kind of like from easy balls.”⁴

The number one rule in sports public relations is to win and lose with class, and Sabalenka initially failed to do that. Responding later to criticism about her comments, she did some image recovery by posting on Instagram that Gauff “handled the conditions much better” and “played with poise and purpose.”⁵ That is good, but the sting of Sabalenka’s initial comments will remain and contribute to tennis fans looking at her as a poor loser.

For a lesson on how to pass the DTSSTY test, look at how well Gauff responded to questions about Sabalenka’s post-match comments. “I know she was probably a bit emotional after that match and it was a tough loss,” Gauff said. “I was a little bit surprised about the comments and everything but I’m gonna give her the benefit of the doubt. I’m sure it was an emotional day, emotional match.”⁶

So, Coco ends up with the French Open Championship and a public relations win, too. Remember these examples when you are in the position of making any public statement or comment. Even if you are caught by surprise, you can still take a moment to ask yourself if what you are about to say sounds stupid or ill-conceived in any way. For your own well-being, as well as protecting your personal brand and reputation, you will benefit from using the DTSSTY Principle.

REMEMBER…

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1.  Cardoza, Riley, “Roseanne Barr Blames God for her racist 2018 tweet that ended career,” The New York Post, June 9, 2025. ↩︎
2.  Keane, Isabel, ‘He’s my hero’: Gilgo Beach suspect Rex Heuermann’s wife says her husband is innocent in the seven murders,” The Independent, June 9, 2025. ↩︎
3.  Keane, Isabel, The Independent ↩︎
4. Yi-Jin Yu, “Coco Gauff speaks out after opponent’s criticism following French Open Win,” ABC News, Good Morning America, June 9, 2025. ↩︎
5.  Yi-Jin Yu, ABC News, Good Morning America ↩︎
6.  Yi-Jin Yu, ABC News, Good Morning America ↩︎