Why Zach Bryan’s PR Team Needs a ‘Revival’

The Bryan Background

Fame as a result of talent inevitably comes with being put in the public eye. For country singer Zach Bryan, however, it’s not always for a good reason. Bryan quickly gained popularity for his singing and songwriting abilities. His music is best known for its raw, emotionally driven, and personal lyrics, as his music style is a mix of folk and country. Bryan has faced criticism for several public scandals in the past, but his most recent one here takes the cake. 

Over the past year, Zach Bryan has been in a very public relationship with internet personality Brianna LaPaglia, better known as Brianna ‘Chickenfry.’ Most of Brianna’s fame comes from her podcast, BFFs, which she hosts alongside Barstool President Dave Portnoy and fellow internet personality Josh Richards. 

The Sticky Situation 

Zach announced his split with Brianna via an Instagram story a few weeks ago. The pop culture world was shocked, and even Brianna, who was unaware their breakup was official, let alone that it would be announced to the whole world. A few days later, a new episode of the BFFs podcast dropped, where Brianna spilled the beans about her relationship with Zach Bryan. She said that Zach Bryan and his team tried to offer her 12 million dollars to sign an NDA to prevent her from speaking about their relationship. With an insane offer like that, it makes you wonder what he has to hide. However, Brianna declined the offer and began opening up about who Zach Bryan truly was and the narcissistic and abusive behavior she endured. This confession sent the internet and, likely, his PR team into a spiral. To this day, Bryan has never issued any statement about the situation. 

The PR Fail

Here’s where his PR team, if they even exist, went wrong. The first issue is the hush money offered. It’s clear that it was an attempt to keep something very dark from coming to light. Considering she chose not to take the money, more damage to his reputation is to be expected. The second issue with this scandal is the lack of crisis management. His PR team or publicist should have been more proactive, in my opinion. While sometimes silence is the better option, it is not the right choice in this scenario, especially when the whole world is anticipating his response.

My Unsolicited Suggestions

If I was on Zach Bryan’s PR team, I would have handled this differently. Besides the fact that I would not have recommended the singer to offer money in exchange for silence, I would have advised Bryan to make a public statement acknowledging his wrongdoings and pledging to do better. The 12 million dollars should be donated to a charity of Brianna’s choosing, and Zach should consider seeking professional help for his behavior issues. I suggest therapy. While I understand that the emotional damage to Brianna and both their fanbases cannot be undone, a successful crisis management campaign could help with the aftermath. 

This whole situation paints Zach Bryan in a negative light that could have been mitigated if executed properly. I’m curious to see if Zach Bryan’s career will Burn, Burn, Burn, or make a Revival.

About Kendall

Kendall is a senior majoring in Advertising and Public Realtions with a minor in Digital Studies. Outside of GrandPR, she sits as GVPRSSA's VP of Programming for the 2024-25 school year. She is also a Digital Media Content Creator for GVSU Seidman College of Business. She spent the summer as a Public Relations Intern at Lambert by LLYC in Detroit. After graduation, she hopes to work in social media influencer marketing in-house.