In 2004 on Maryland's Eastern Shore, he was slapped with a DUI charge and issued an apology stating that it would not happen again. Fast forward to November, 2008 at a party in a house on a North Carolina college campus. A photo showing Michael Phelps smoking what appears to be a marijuana pipe appeared recently on the cover of a London newspaper. The picture was apparently taken at that November party. Yesterday, Phelps issued an apology through his publicist stating that he had acted in an inappropriate manner, and that it would not happen again. It all sounded too familiar.
In North Carolina, the local sheriff's office has released a statement announcing that they plan to launch a full investigation on the matter and that Phelps could face criminal charges. The critical question at the moment is whether or not his endorsements will suffer as a result of this incident. Many experts say that his addressing the matter in a direct manner would minimize the impact.
I, for one, fail to understand sometimes how some public figures never seem to realize that whether or not they want to, they are always going to be role models. In this day of rapid communication, people should realize that anyone with a cell phone should be considered armed with a camera and act accordingly when it comes to protecting their image and reputation. Whether or not the person taking the photo did it for personal gain or not makes no difference; Michael Phelps let his guard down and is yet again paying for it.
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