Geraldo's ultimate boss is under enough pressure (Murdoch, that is) facing calls from his board to split the Chairman and CEO jobs. It'd be hard to imagine him green-lighting a KC interview (and yes I think the public outcry would be such that it would rise to the level of a chairman; it's brand management after all). So someone got with Geraldo and told him to back off. So he did.
I don't think we're going to see KC in public anytime soon, for several reasons.
(1) Money trouble and legal trouble. She needs to pay the IRS and the other claims against her. Even if these claims become judgments, she can discharge them with a bankruptcy filing or at the very least, use the threat of bankruptcy and additional plaintiff court costs to reduce the ultimate settlements, perhaps even with the IRS. So it is actually in her interest to NOT appear in the media until those things are settled. Those high dollar lawsuits will settle for a fraction of the demands. Furthermore, obtaining a judgment and enforcing a judgment are two different things. If KC has a judgment against her for, say $50,000 from an entity other than IRS or government, the plaintiff has to go back to court every single time there is "new money" to enforce the judgment. If KC gets a job for say, $30,000 a year, the plaintiff needs to bring an action for a wage garnishment. Then let's say she sells Caylee-things for $5,000. Another legal action. And so on. So it doesn't make sense for the plaintiffs to play the "grind her into dust" game, because if she has no money, they can't collect. And she can declare BK and that's the end of that. So she's got to clear up the suits before she makes any money.
(2) There is no story right now. Imagine this interview:
Host: so, KC, you killed a child and beat the system. How's that feel?
KC: What child?
Host: Your daughter, Caylee.
KC: Oh, um, yeah, Cays. I forgot. But I didn't kill her. Ask the jury.
Host: Oh, right. Sorry. No one believes you. What do you say to the viewers who think you fooled the system?
KC: I didn't kill her. Ask the jury.
Host: What's it like to live, in some ways, as a modern day Hester Prynne?
KC: Who in the what now?
Host: What's the plan for the future?
KC: Cash the check you gave me and have a drink on a deserted island.
There's nothing to talk about right now. The interview would be unwatchable; media types know this and they know boycotts and protests would happen. Independent producers are trying to cash in because, well, if they were any good, they wouldn't be independent. They'd work for a real media outlet. So their interest means nothing.
To make her appearance palatable to the public, KC has to stay out of trouble for a year. She has to get her GED, enroll in online college courses, get a tan, get fit, and get healthy looking, not pasty white prison inmate looking. She can change her appearance not with surgery, but with an expensive hair style and coloring. She's far from a classic beauty, but with professional make up and hair, she'd look just fine on TV if she gets herself together.
Regardless of her character, she is not stupid. (Her jail letters were not poorly written. Shakespeare's place in the pantheon of literary greats is safe from her, but she is not a low IQ person)
With a year gone by, she can appear solemn and reflective and all the things she is most certainly not, and can probably do a passable job of convincing the shortsighted American public that she is not a demon or a sociopath, and people will just leave her alone and let her fade away.
Meanwhile, she still gets $250k for the appearance and whatever other stuff, after all the dust is cleared from the other lawsuits, and she can go away and live whatever life has in store for her.
If I were in PR and was stuck with KC as a client, that's how I'd play it.
I don't think we're going to see KC in public anytime soon, for several reasons.
(1) Money trouble and legal trouble. She needs to pay the IRS and the other claims against her. Even if these claims become judgments, she can discharge them with a bankruptcy filing or at the very least, use the threat of bankruptcy and additional plaintiff court costs to reduce the ultimate settlements, perhaps even with the IRS. So it is actually in her interest to NOT appear in the media until those things are settled. Those high dollar lawsuits will settle for a fraction of the demands. Furthermore, obtaining a judgment and enforcing a judgment are two different things. If KC has a judgment against her for, say $50,000 from an entity other than IRS or government, the plaintiff has to go back to court every single time there is "new money" to enforce the judgment. If KC gets a job for say, $30,000 a year, the plaintiff needs to bring an action for a wage garnishment. Then let's say she sells Caylee-things for $5,000. Another legal action. And so on. So it doesn't make sense for the plaintiffs to play the "grind her into dust" game, because if she has no money, they can't collect. And she can declare BK and that's the end of that. So she's got to clear up the suits before she makes any money.
(2) There is no story right now. Imagine this interview:
Host: so, KC, you killed a child and beat the system. How's that feel?
KC: What child?
Host: Your daughter, Caylee.
KC: Oh, um, yeah, Cays. I forgot. But I didn't kill her. Ask the jury.
Host: Oh, right. Sorry. No one believes you. What do you say to the viewers who think you fooled the system?
KC: I didn't kill her. Ask the jury.
Host: What's it like to live, in some ways, as a modern day Hester Prynne?
KC: Who in the what now?
Host: What's the plan for the future?
KC: Cash the check you gave me and have a drink on a deserted island.
There's nothing to talk about right now. The interview would be unwatchable; media types know this and they know boycotts and protests would happen. Independent producers are trying to cash in because, well, if they were any good, they wouldn't be independent. They'd work for a real media outlet. So their interest means nothing.
To make her appearance palatable to the public, KC has to stay out of trouble for a year. She has to get her GED, enroll in online college courses, get a tan, get fit, and get healthy looking, not pasty white prison inmate looking. She can change her appearance not with surgery, but with an expensive hair style and coloring. She's far from a classic beauty, but with professional make up and hair, she'd look just fine on TV if she gets herself together.
Regardless of her character, she is not stupid. (Her jail letters were not poorly written. Shakespeare's place in the pantheon of literary greats is safe from her, but she is not a low IQ person)
With a year gone by, she can appear solemn and reflective and all the things she is most certainly not, and can probably do a passable job of convincing the shortsighted American public that she is not a demon or a sociopath, and people will just leave her alone and let her fade away.
Meanwhile, she still gets $250k for the appearance and whatever other stuff, after all the dust is cleared from the other lawsuits, and she can go away and live whatever life has in store for her.
If I were in PR and was stuck with KC as a client, that's how I'd play it.
