Tweet now, claim later: Celebrities now have their own insurance against cancellation

Emilia Perez star Karla Sofia Gascon’s problematic past tweets put her on a fast track from awards hopeful to “cancellation station”.

Her criticism of murder victim George Floyd, diversity at the Academy Awards, and Muslims in her native Spain not only lost her support from fans and colleagues, it arguably also cost her an Oscar.

Career damage from past comments is increasingly common. Director James Gunn was fired from the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise for inappropriate jokes he made online about sexual assault, and model Chrissy Teigen stepped away from social media after being accused of cyberbullying.

From James Gunn to Karla Sofia Gascon, celebrities have been getting cancelled for years. Could a new form of insurance see this change?Credit: Compiled by Stephen Kiprillis.

Celebrity cancellations are now so common London-based insurer Samphire Risk and crisis communications group Borkowski PR have rolled out a new policy to help high-profile people prevent problems occurring or navigate them when they do.

It offers clients preventative measures such as monitoring, analysis and training, as well as 60 days of crisis communications in the event of a cancellation. Underwritten by Lloyd’s of London, the policy also offers a 24/7 help hotline, and protection from misinformation, blackmail and deepfake images.

Notably, it isn’t designed for people who have been accused of breaking the law.

Samphire Risk was contacted for comment.

Reputational damage policies already exist, but this is the first that focuses solely on the effective cancellation of high-profile individuals. So, if Gascon had access to this insurance a few months ago, would she have won an Oscar? Would Gunn still helm one of Marvel’s most popular franchises?

How helpful could it be?

It depends on the scale of the celebrity’s fame, says senior lecturer in marketing at the University of Adelaide Amelie Burgess.

“Typically, one of the first things a celebrity will do once they gain enough traction is hire a PR team, and find that person who will help stop tabloid stories from running,” she says. “This insurance isn’t offering them anything more than their publicist already would.”

However, smaller-scale celebrities such as influencers or popular podcasters are more likely to benefit, Burgess says – people who haven’t considered any strategy yet, or who don’t have the funds to pay for a full-time publicist.

Take Anna Paul. She came under fire in January after a fellow TikTokker accused her of being “fake” and taking advantage of young followers. Her fame is more or less confined to social media, so Burgess says she would probably be part of Samphire Risk’s target demographic.

“Not many publicists position themselves this way,” Burgess adds. “Many PR firms have more of an umbrella PR strategy, whereas this insurance specialises specifically in cancellation.”

Its main value lies in its preventative measures, says professor in actuarial studies at The University of Melbourne Rui Zhou.

“It’s very difficult to cancel a cancellation,” Zhou says. “But this insurance uses modelling to monitor what’s happening, they do analysis, provide trainings – all to minimise the risk of accidents in advance.”

But insurance is no guarantee against reputational damage, Zhou says. The policy covers the cost of the PR measures before or during a cancellation, but not the ongoing cost of a damaged reputation.

How feasible is it?

Celebrity cancellation is a relatively new concept but lacks any specific definition, thus making risk assessment difficult, Zhou says.

“How do you quantify cancellation? It could be, say, a certain percentage drop in the number of Instagram followers, or how many times they’ve been mentioned negatively online. There would need to be a clear definition in each policy agreement so that they could actually put a price on the risk.”

James Gunn was fired from directing the Guardians of the Galaxy movies because of his controversial online behaviour. Would insurance have made a difference? Credit: Getty Images

Working out premiums would be similarly challenging, says Daniel Rossetto, who worked in international insurance intermediation for over a decade. Each client will have different followings, incomes, professional relationships or collaborations, and levels of online activity – so how can the value of something as subjective as a reputation be calculated?

“There’s very little historical data an insurer could use to price this … They could look towards matters of defamation and the methods used to calculate what the lost earnings could be if a reputation is tarnished,” he says. “But I’m not sure an insurer is going to want to go into that level of detail every single time there’s a potential claim.”

Then there are the policy agreement limits, which Rossetto says would likely be plentiful. This kind of insurance runs the risk of leading celebrities to believe they’re always covered. However, Rossetto says the insurer would need to clearly set out what is within the remit before agreeing on the policy. This, again, would require time and resources for each individual client.

But Zhou believes the risk of fraud is low.

“If someone has been cancelled, the insurer can verify that it actually happened online,” she says. “And the payout doesn’t go directly to the celebrity, it goes towards covering the PR measures. So there doesn’t seem to be any real benefit for the celebrity to intentionally get cancelled.”

However, it seems unlikely similar policies will be rolled out by local insurers.

“This type of cover is quite specific and therefore only likely to be offered by insurers with expertise and the risk appetite to provide cover of this nature,” an Insurance Council of Australia spokesperson says. “It is not the type of cover likely to be offered more broadly by general insurers in Australia.”

What could it mean for ‘cancel culture’ generally?

Regardless of any insurance, Burgess says cancel culture isn’t going anywhere. “Cancel culture has been around for a long time. It’s like an extension of boycotts.”

However, with preventative insurance in place, she says celebrity cancellations could become less noticeable.

“Some of the noise may not be as loud … Fewer of these cases, especially frivolous cancellations, will probably see the light of day, or they may not pick up as fast or be as heavily weighted.”

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