In strange twist, Lance Armstrong floats idea of admitting he doped
A New York Times report said the disgraced cyclist is considering a public admission of guilt, a report his attorney later denied. Will coming clean restore his image? PR pros weigh in.
On Friday, The New York Times published an anonymously sourced story saying the disgraced cyclist is considering publicly admitting he used performance-enhancing drugs.
The question is: Will Armstrong follow-through or is this hearsay?
Signs suggest he will. Armstrong’s lawyer Tim Herman started with an oblique comment to The New York Times—”Lance has to speak for himself on that”— knowing full well that such a whisper would set off a firestorm of speculation.
(On Saturday, Herman told the Associated Press he has no knowledge that Armstrong is mulling a confession.)
While experts acknowledge this isn’t the usual way to enact a crisis communications strategy, this isn’t the usual type of issue. A leak such as this would start the slow burn of criticism prepping the path for a potential admission of guilt, as well as giving Armstrong’s team an idea of the type of public reaction they could be facing.
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