Author compares strategies of viral sensations Tiffany Gomas, Oliver Anthony
Chris McMurray wrote ‘Food Stamps to Franchise: A Life Journey from Brokenness to Success’
Tiffany Gomas, the viral "crazy plane lady," should have taken a page from the playbook of viral singing sensation Oliver Anthony, who recently broke his silence with a humble social media post, according to author Chris McMurray, who is quite familiar with a sudden rise to accidental fame.
"You take something that's heartfelt, something that people understand, understand the pains of just regular life and how that can be overcome, and you can be OK, and you can express yourself in this way and do good for people. What a difference and people are going to gravitate towards it. He's going to explode, no doubt about it. It's a totally different approach than what Tiffany did," McMurray told Fox News Digital.
In 2012, McMurray, owner of "Crumb and Get It" bakery in southwestern Virginia, wouldn’t allow then-Vice President Joe Biden to use his store as the backdrop for a photo opportunity the Obama re-election campaign was staging in the area. At the time, McMurray was peeved over comments then-President Obama had recently made about small business owners. McMurray made national headlines for rejecting the vice president, emerging as a hero among conservatives in the process while landing a variety of media appearances, speaking engagements and a plethora of new customers.
OLIVER ANTHONY SAYS HE'S TURNED DOWN $8 MILLION OFFERS SINCE GOING VIRAL: 'NOTHING SPECIAL ABOUT ME'
Tiffany Gomas, the viral "crazy plane lady," should have taken a page from the playbook of viral singing sensation Oliver Anthony, according to author Chris McMurray.
A Washington Post published a report, "Baker who shunned Joe Biden gets star turn," detailing the time he introduced Mitt Romney’s running mate, Paul Ryan, at a campaign event. McMurray was able to capitalize on his 15 minutes in the spotlight and even authored the recently released book "Food Stamps to Franchise: A Life Journey from Brokenness to Success" as a result.
Gomas, the Dallas marketing executive who went viral for an American Airlines meltdown, famously declared "that motherf---er is not real" and inspired a storm of debates and memes. She recently apologized for the disruption and rebooted her social media presence with a campaign "promoting positive mental health and standing up against cyberbulling."
McMurray, who is familiar with being launched into the cultural zeitgeist, doesn’t feel her video was particularly authentic.
"Which Tiffany Gomas is the real one? Is it the one that's on a tirade in the plane or is that the one that is, you know, cool and collected and the apology that was posted nearly a month later," McMurray said.
"I see kind of a little bit of disingenuousness in that apology. And, you know, I'm going to spend a few minutes on an apology, but then I'm also going to shift and say, hey, come look at my efforts or come help me fundraise or whatever that ends up being for her," he continued.
McMurray feels Gomas lacked emotional awareness on the plane, and she should have simply admitted she "messed up" in a standalone apology. He praised her for wanting to use the viral moment as a launching pad to promote positive mental health and fight cyberbullying but said it’s something that should have been "developed later," down the road from the apology.
Gomas is known as the woman shown gesturing toward the rear of an airplane cabin and shouting, "I don’t give two f---s, but I am telling you right now, that motherf---er back there is not real." People have been curious about who or what exactly "wasn’t real," and McMurray said she could have benefited from explaining the truth.
"It could have spoken to how genuine she was and the apology, if she sort of brought that as a piece of explanation of ‘this is why I said that.’ You know, right now we're all thinking this is just a crazy plane lady… no one still knows what she's talking about," McMurray said.
"That would have been an interesting angle from a PR perspective if the apology would have been kind of stand-alone, but then she would have sort of maybe made light, or added a little bit of humor, through the explanation of what occurred, instead of just sort of dodging the entire conversation," he continued. "That's what everybody's obsessed with, right? They want to know what in the world is she talking about."
McMurray believes an honest explanation would have ended speculation and failing to offer one was another mistake.
"I think there were just many, many missteps, even just from a PR perspective," he said.
Musician Oliver Anthony went viral this month for a performance of his original song, "Rich Men North of Richmond." (Screenshot/RadioWV YouTube channel)
Anthony, the red-bearded Virginia farmer who become a virtual overnight sensation with his song "Rich Men North of Richmond," has handled his newfound celebrity status much differently, according to McMurray.
His song, which has been viewed more than 26 million times on YouTube as of Sunday, serves as both a screed against Washington greed and a lament for working-class ills like suicide, despair, high taxation, and working long hours for "bulls--- pay."
Anthony hasn't granted media interviews but has released video diaries and also a Facebook posting where he talked about his background and his sudden rise to fame.
"I'm sitting in such a weird place in my life right now. I never wanted to be a full-time musician, much less sit at the top of the iTunes charts. Draven from RadioWv and I filmed these tunes on my land with the hope that it may hit 300k views. I still don't quite believe what has went on since we uploaded that. It's just strange to me," he wrote.
"People in the music industry give me blank stares when I brush off 8 million dollar offers. I don't want 6 tour buses, 15 tractor trailers and a jet. I don't want to play stadium shows, I don't want to be in the spotlight. I wrote the music I wrote because I was suffering with mental health and depression," Anthony continued. "These songs have connected with millions of people on such a deep level because they're being sung by someone feeling the words in the very moment they were being sung. No editing, no agent, no bulls--t. Just some idiot and his guitar. The style of music that we should have never gotten away from in the first place."
McMurray believes Gomas could have taken pointers from the viral musician.
"Think of the contrast between Tiffany's response and Oliver. You know, he's turning down $8 million record deals because all he had was a message and a message that he wanted to share with people of the low places he had been and what could be achieved post sharing that message," McMurray said.
Anthony also discussed his past employment that included a "living hell" at a paper mill in North Carolina and once fracturing his skull in 2013 that forced him to move home to Virginia. The singer said he currently lives on farmland he paid $97,500 for, inside a 27-foot camper with a tarp on the roof.
"What a great story. And, you know, that's hope for people, people suffering with depression, alcoholism, the things that he expresses through music. And it's just in him. It's not something that's fabricated," McMurray said. "What a stark contrast in terms of what's genuine and what people are receptive to."
Fox News’ Michael Ruiz and David Rutz contributed to this report.
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