I mean that in itself $12 million , to not talk about this relationship that you posted on Instagram . That was so beautiful and you had so much love for me . What the are you hiding , dude ? What are you scared of ?
$12 million to not talk about a relationship . I would talk about it for $12 . Heck , I'd even talk about it for free . Welcome back to the PR Breakdown with me , your host , molly McPherson . This is the podcast where we dig into the public relations strategies behind the headlines and scandals shaping pop culture and the news . Why ?
Because I think there's always something to learn . We're talking about the relationship between singer Zach Bryan and Brianna Chicken Fry LaPaglia . People know her from her podcast . She is a barstool personality , but their relationship has all the elements of a country song , from a chance meeting to a bittersweet ending that turned into a social media soap opera .
There's also a messy , greasy part of it a public breakup involving the internet . When country music's rising star and social media's outspoken podcaster collided , of course it was bound to create fireworks . Now , who could have predicted that the explosive aftermath would play out all over social media ?
If you answered everyone , yeah , I would second that , because this story isn't just about heartbreak . That's what a lot of people on the internet get focused on , understandably . I look at it as a crash course into very different PR strategies . Now let me set the stage here . Course into very different PR strategies . Now let me set the stage here .
I recognize that some of you maybe have no idea who either person is . I just finished recording a live chat on Patreon , patreoncom slash Molly McPherson and I also popped on TikTok and did a TikTok live . A lot of people on the internet you know on social media , they know who Zach Bryan is .
He's a singer and there's definitely a segment of the internet who's aware of Brianna . She's a young TikTok content creator turned like even bigger podcaster . She's a part of the Barstool Sports Network . Her personality has been built on a brand of oversharing and unfiltered honesty .
Their love story started innocently enough a fan photo at the Academy of Country Music Awards in May of 2023 . But what followed was a masterclass in how different social media strategies can turn a breakup into a PR battlefield . In May of last year , luke Bryan announced his split from a previous girlfriend .
Then , in June of 2023 , brianna and I'll call her Brianna . People know her as Brianna Chicken Fry , but she has a different last name , so I'll just go with Brianna . Brianna joins Luke Bryan on stage at his concert in New York City . Then , on the podcast , she also mentioned that she was with her boyfriend at that time .
Next month , july , brianna confirms on her podcast that she and Luke Bryan have been talking for about three weeks , confirming that they didn't say anything to each other apart from her asking to take a photo .
She did mention that she had some quote stuff to address with her listeners , that she'd been hanging out with a guy named Zach , so she mentioned this in one of her episodes . And then it turns into a big relationship Fast forward . A year later they're both sharing heartfelt posts on Instagram commemorating their first anniversary .
Brianna says quote there isn't a damn thing I wouldn't do for you , my person . Forever Love you , my Zachary . That's really putting yourself out there . But then fans , listeners , begin to notice that her social media behavior was shifting .
Then the queen of oversharing goes mysteriously quiet about her personal life and we all know what social media silence means in 2024 . There's more to the story . Then comes the cryptic posting phase . Brianna starts sharing song lyrics about betrayal . Zach Bryan counters with vague tweets about truth and perspective .
It's the modern equivalent of celebrity PR warfare , you know , played out in stories and tweets and TikToks . October is when Zach Bryan confirms that he split with Brianna , then drops what seems like a perfectly crafted too perfectly crafted PR statement on Instagram stories , which means it's temporary . It's a controlled release . It's playbook for celebrity breakups .
Here's some of the things that he said . I'm thinking he didn't write this . I'm thinking he didn't write it . He didn't post it . He had nothing to do with it other than to give his two cents to someone else to write it . Addressing something one word , colon .
Brianna and me have broken up with each other , each other being one word , and I respect and love her with every ounce of my heart . She has loved me unconditionally for a very long time and for that I'll always thank her . Thank you , brianna , for loving me for a long time .
I have had an incredibly hard year personally and struggled through some pretty severe things . Okay , so there we go , the phase where we are creating like a narrative that's framing there that he's struggling with stuff . So if things happen to come out about me , know that I've been struggling with some things . Okay . So back to the statement .
I thought it would be beneficial for both of us to go our different ways . Note I thought it would be beneficial , not we I . I am not perfect and never will be Again framing . Please respect Brianna's privacy and space in this and , if you have it in your heart comment . Mine too . Again , he didn't write this , so a cryptic , non-cryptic post .
He's laying it out . They broke up . Looks like he's the one doing the breaking up at this time , but now we have two entirely different approaches for how to handle a breakup and how to do it so it works Now . Brianna is the social media native . She lets her platform do the talking through subtle jabs and coded messages .
So she said in a post on an Instagram story hey guys , I'm feeling really blindsided right now . Gonna hop off social media for a while and attempt to heal privately . When I'm ready , I'll be back and ready to talk . That type of language written in an Instagram story , which no fault . There she's sharing vulnerability .
Why I believe that she was hurt and blindsided and dumped is just in her language . She's someone who's created a brand around being yes , we hear the word authentic and it's so overused . It's almost trite now , but I like using the word real . These are real feelings . The word blindsided that's . I got dumped out of the blue .
I may have found out I'm dumped because of the stories we don't know , but she follows . I love you guys so much . Thank you for all your kind words . Remember you are so loved and everything's always going to be okay . Now do I think she wrote that 100% . I think she wrote that . That seems like her .
Now here's where things become a little messy , particularly for Zach Bryan . So once the breakup became public , that's when the drama , the real drama , kicked off , because of the app Raya .
Now , for anyone unfamiliar with the app , it's an exclusive , invite only dating app that caters to celebrities and influencers , and that's where we find that Zach Bryan had a profile on .
Raya . He left , never saw me again , posted it on Instagram , made a riot and like publicly humiliated me . Then called me to say it's all my fault , Like this isn't me being like I was . I dated a douchebag that like cheated on me at the bar . No , this is something so much deeper than that .
So that discovery really was the match that lit the whole PR firestorm for Zach Bryan . But this is also where the PR strategies diverge . So what makes this breakup fascinating to me ? Celebrities are just people where we can all follow the same stories . That's what I find interesting . This type of relationship happens all the time .
It's a clash of two completely different approaches to fame . On the one side , you have Zach Bryan . He's representing old school celebrity privacy doesn't want to talk about it other than a statement . On the other hand , brianna is embodying this new era of influencer transparency , where their breakup isn't just a split between two people .
It's a collision between two people . It's a collision between two different worlds of celebrity culture Because once again , brianna now makes more headlines by dropping a bit of a bomb that Zach Bryan's team asked her to sign a non-disclosure agreement after the breakup .
Now , a non-disclosure agreement , an NDA , is often used by high-profile individuals , especially celebrities , in order to protect their privacy and reputation . Typically , these agreements prevent the disclosure of confidential information such as personal details , photos , intimate moments shared during the relationship .
Having control over your public narrative , particularly in a relationship , helps prevent exploitation of you during the time of that relationship , and it would also prevent your former girlfriend from doing a post-dump interview with Dave Portnoy , a co-host on a podcast .
The irony of Dave Portnoy dissing how Zach Bryan treated Brianna is quite humorous , because Dave Portnoy has been awful to women absolutely awful , so he should not even be in this conversation . But with the NDA she wanted it to be known that she was not going to be bought off for silence . So on her podcast she let it out .
They started low , then they went up to 10 million , then they went up to 12 million , then they wanted to give me a house , then they wanted to give me a New York apartment , then they wanted to do all these things .
Now , as of this recording , zach Bryan has not publicly responded to her claims about the NDA . But for Bryan , the NDA does raise questions . When it became public , some people might think why offer such a large sum ? Was he trying to keep something private ? In the absence of comments , the public will fill in the gaps .
The other option is to move on quickly in order to clear a path for future projects For Zach Bryan . I think there's a little bit of both , and definitely the latter , because there are no signs that Bryan is going to slow down in the country music scene .
So a few weeks ago , he released two new songs and he accompanied the releases with heartfelt Instagram posts , you know , to let people know . He kind of went through a time and now he's back , and he really is back . He received numerous nominations for the 2024 Billboard Music Awards , so this was a significant leap from his first time finalist status last year .
So he leads the field with 18 nominations and 21 entries . Fair to say that a lot of this voting happened before the big breakup , but the timing for him is incredibly beneficial . Refusing the NDA positioned Brianna as someone who prioritizes honesty and authenticity over money .
In Zach Bryan's case , it was a tool silence that allowed him to clear the way for these new releases and to receive the glow from the award nominations . The NDA wasn't the end of Brianna's story . She was very forthright in what it was like in that relationship . According to her podcast , she suffered emotional abuse during her relationship with Zach Bryan .
Her words reveal the root of almost every public relations crisis , celebrity or institution .
This is the reason why . I mean , I went through literal narcissistic emotional abuse for a year and he made me believe everything was my fault . He isolated me for my whole entire life . He wouldn't let me be who I wanted to be . He made me hate everything that I loved about myself . He broke me down and that made me feel like he was all I had left .
And he just kept repeatedly beating me down and beating me down , even to the point where of like yesterday or like when I gave you guys the call , when I'm I'm finally standing up for myself and being like no you when you dig beneath the surface .
Her narrative gains emotional depth due to the heavy allegations . But also the public disclosure of these allegations comes from the reason why the PR crisis began in the first place , and that was pain . By sharing her side , by sharing her pain , brianna wasn't just trying to shift public perception . She was attempting to reclaim her story .
It was her pain on her massive platform that became both her sword and her shield . Her audience transformed into a digital support system , turning her private pain into public vindication . And then , well then , the internet does what the internet does best .
The drama evolved beyond their personal story and it morphed into memes and viral moments and endless TikTok takes . Believe me , I know , because so many people ask me about it . And Barstool Sports , all of a sudden , isn't just covering this breakup .
The presses there's all these press stories about it as well and , one could say , feeding off of it , so transforming personal heartbreak into consumable content for millions , not just for digital outlets digital news outlets not just for podcasters but also for Brianna Zach's choice to remain silent .
It worked a lot better , honestly , in a pre-social media era , but now , in 2024 , heading into 25 , every moment can be turned into a podcast episode or an Instagram story , because silence creates a vacuum . Silence creates a platform for people to weigh in . It's the weigh in that creates the algorithm .
Now , in the attention economy of social media , the one who speaks often speaks loudest , and while Zach might have thought he was taking the high road with the silence , he was actually ceding control of the narrative to Brianna and everyone else . However , here's where it gets interesting . Could this strategy have actually worked for Zach Bryan ?
Was it the right move ? The outcome that we see now is something that I call strategic silence . It's a PR tactic that plays in crisis management . If you go back to a year , last September , I covered extensively a breakup that happened mostly online . One side celebrity . They chose to go the digital tabloid scorched earth route .
They dropped as many negative stories as they could drop about their soon-to-be ex-partner . The other partner said nothing . Do you remember who it was ? Joe Jonas , sophie Turner . I saw this as a seismic shift . I wrote about it in Forbes . I did an interview with the New York Times . I think I did two interviews with the New York Times , also NBC .
I mean it was incredible that so many people were interested in this idea that Sophie Turner was doing something to offset what Joe Jonas's team was trying to do . They were using the old playbook where you smear someone via a digital tabloid . It's the old smear campaign , but it wasn't working . Sophie Turner came out on top .
It's Zach's strategic silence versus Brianna's raw authenticity and in this new media landscape , both approaches can come with their own risks and rewards . You can win and you can lose . So what can we learn from this high stakes game of social media chess ? So here are three takeaways that emerged from this Zach Brian , brianna LaPaglia , chicken fry PR battle .
Number one strategic silence is evolving . As implemented by Sophie Turner has worked for traditional celebrities . It's a different game for influencers . Influencers can find rewards from speaking out .
Zach Bryan , who is more of the ilk of the celebrity , went the silent route and that created a power vacuum that Brianna , with her built-in audience , certainly took off and ran with . She has content creation expertise . She could easily fill that vacuum . So in 2024 , silence isn't just golden . It's territory up for grabs .
Number two the rules are different for influencers versus traditional celebrities . When your brand is built on authenticity and oversharing , like Brianna's , you can't suddenly go silent without raising eyebrows . You know your audience expects real-time reactions , emotional vulnerability , unfiltered truth .
Traditional PR strategies simply don't work in the influencer economy , where authenticity even messy authenticity is currency . And finally , number three , the most powerful PR strategy in 2024 isn't about controlling the narrative . I believe it's about owning your truth before someone else does . Brianna understood this instinctively .
While Zach tried to maintain dignity through his distance , she recognized that in today's digital landscape , your story will be told with or without you . The only choice is whether you'll be the one telling it . But in the end , this isn't just about a country star and an influencer's breakup .
It's about how the rules of engagement and celebrity PR are being rewritten in real time . One story , one post , one podcast at a time . And that's a wrap for this week's episode of the PR Breakdown . I want to hear your thoughts on this PR showdown . Which strategy resonates with you the strategic silence or the authentic overshare ?
And no , you cannot reach me on Raya , though that would be something , wouldn't it ? Here's how you can join the conversation . Head on over to prbreakdowncom , hit the voicemail button . I listen to every message and might even feature your take in a future episode . You'll find the link everywhere .
It's in my social media bio show notes , or you can just type PRBreakdowncom in your browser . Until next time , keep your eyes on those headlines , your finger on the pulse , and remember in PR , it's not just what you say , it's how and when you say it .