Linda Yaccarino’s Train Wreck Code Conference Interview Proves She Isn’t Running X, Experts Say

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While the chief executive suffered “reputational damage,” crisis PR experts considered she’s working for maverick Elon Musk

Linda Yaccarino Code Conference
Linda Yaccarino suffered "reputational damage" after her Code Conference appearance, experts say. (Getty, Christopher Smith/TheWrap)

After vicious social-media backlash, X CEO Linda Yaccarino’s interview at last week’s Code Conference has been branded a train wreck. The question now is how Yaccarino, Elon Musk and the X (formerly Twitter) brand will rebound from the debacle.

Several crisis communications experts told TheWrap Yacarino lost some credibility as a result, but the biggest takeaway was that she’s clearly not in charge at X.

“The way Yaccarino behaved onstage was a worst-case scenario because it undermined her as the CEO,” Kathleen Schmidt, who runs Kathleen Schmidt PR in New York, and has worked in crisis PR for 25 years, representing high-profile clients, including Woody Allen, Michael Cohen, Alan Dershowitz and Robert F.

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