As I said much earlier in the thread that didn’t do Gerald Ratner much good ( he’s the guy who used to have a low end jewellery chain in the Uk… went on TV and said all his jewellery was crap and his customers were all mugs…went bankrupt about 8 months later)
It can back fire. But how many celebrities have had "their phones hacked" and their naked pictures appear on the net. Only to have their careers take off.