Former celebrity ‘publicist’ Max Clifford has been described as having done “a disservice” to the communications industry, following his death this weekend.
It was reported that Clifford, who was serving an eight-year prison sentence for eight counts of indecent assault that he was convicted of in 2014, collapsed and died of a cardiac arrest in hospital on Friday, aged 74. He had a history of heart issues.
Talking to The Drum, PRCA director general and chief executive of ICCO, Frances Ingham offered his sympathy to Clifford’s family upon hearing the news of his death, but said that he struggled to offer anything ‘nice’ to say about the man himself.
“He did our industry a disservice by pretending to be part of it. I note that most media outlets are describing him today as having been a publicist. That is finally an accurate description of his career,” stated Ingham.
Clifford was as famous as many of his own clients for his television appearances while attempting to protect their reputations. Clients are said to have included Muhammad Ali, Frank Sinatra, Jade Goody and Katie Price, as well as those famously selling ‘kiss and tell’ stories to the British tabloids.
PR expert Mark Borkowski offered his own take on Clifford to The Drum; “Max was an anomaly. Not really a PR operator - more a dark alchemist - part agent,part deal-broker, a news agency with a twist to exploit the voracious news agenda. The PR man who became the story, an enigmatic myth squeezing the last drop from every hapless wannabe. The man who developed an immunity to the toxic fallout, the polluted values of an intense tabloid reality age. Many were crushed by the dreams they searched, and sadly wished for. A dark genie who shaped a toxic fame which few could cope with. We will never see his like again.”
Clifford also admitted while giving evidence during the Leveson Inquiry into media practices, that he was behind the fabrication of the famous headline ‘Freddie Starr ate my hamster’ which was splashed by The Sun in 1986.