"Piers Morgan Live, Rewind": Judy Smith on Alec Baldwin and social media

Whether you fell asleep early, stayed out too late, or simply want to watch it again, we realize it's not always possible to get your entire "Piers Morgan Live" fix from television. As an answer to this, we offer the below labor of love – "Piers Morgan Live, Rewind" – dedicated and designed to getting you caught up and connected to the conversation.

• Baldwin Banished: Judy Smith on Alec's MSNBC firing

Amidst scandals in both the celebrity and political arenas, on Monday evening Piers Morgan welcomed Judy Smith, asking the professional crisis manager to share insight on effectively dealing with the bad-boy antics that have seemingly become the norm for many public personalities.

One of the producers of the ABC hit show "Scandal," and the woman after whom the character Olivia Pope was modeled, Smith offered some perspective on Alec Baldwin, the hot-tempered actor recently removed from MSNBC after allegedly uttering an anti-gay slur in the face of pressing paparazzi:

“I think Alec did the right thing. He came out. He apologized, which I think is important. I think what's going to be critical moving forward is what he says," noted Smith. "And how he says it ... I think, generally speaking, the American public is forgiving."

Seated across from Morgan, the President and CEO of "Smith & Company" indicated that Baldwin's general public appeal will be an asset moving forward:

“I think that helps tremendously because the public already knows that particular person, and so they have sort of a reservoir of good will, which I think it's it is great."

Citing another TV commentator who kept his job despite having made comments that could be construed as even more offensive, Morgan asked Smith about the relative fairness in cancelling Baldwin’s show, suggesting that perhaps a double-standard existed. Smith maintained that each situation is unique:

“I think they have to look at each case,” said Smith, who used to work for the famed Peacock network. “They’re going to look...where they are getting pushback from, how people are reacting, is it going to affect their advertisers. I think it’s on a case by case basis.”

• Social Media Makes it Messy: Judy Smith on role of Twitter

Welcoming Judy Smith for a live, primetime interview, on Monday evening Piers Morgan asked the President and CEO of "Smith & Company" about managing crises, asking his guest to isolate the specific types that are most difficult to handle.

In studio for much of the hour, Smith indicated that the multifaceted incidents are the most complicated, citing a combination of sex, politics, and other corruption, not unlike the Monica Lewinsky case she worked on more than a decade ago:

“When you think about it, it's the President of the United States and of course all eyes are watching you and how you navigate through a crisis,” said Smith. “So, it was one of those 24/7-nonstop-can't-make-one-mistake.”

Of course platforms like Facebook and Twitter were not factors when Smith was advising Lewinsky, a change that has since complicated things for the crisis expert:

“I think social media has made my job so much more difficult. You know, you can have someone at home blogging in their jammies and all of a sudden, it becomes ‘fact’ and it's all over the world. And, it's very hard to beat something like that back, very hard.”

For the next edition of "Piers Morgan Live," watch CNN every night at 9.
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