An Inside Look at Kings Island Public Relation's Response to the Banshee Incident

[IBEW_Sparky]

9 hours ago, super7 said:

The KI PR dept does not seem like a good job for someone with high ethics if they are instructed to lie.    Cedar Fair has not been an unethical company over the recent years, but this is a new level of unethical behavior. 
 

Regardless of whose fault the incident was, it doesn’t take much effort to show some human decency and care about the victim more than hiding the truth of the incident.    At least CP showed some decency toward the family of the victim that day.    

I assure you, it is not the only company that operates in this manner, the sheer nature of the job demands one to test their ethics on at least a semi-regular basis, which is exactly why signature says what it says.... DON'T ever sacrifice your honesty and integrity for a paycheck and a nice office.  If I was ever offered a position anywhere that I had to slap on a nametag and a fake smile every single day and worry about how I was going to creatively turn facts into chocolate sprinkle covered bull**** in case something happened, Id tell them to shove their office, their "decent" salary and their name tag or desk name plaque.  Also, as foolish as this act was, there is NO way I could ever be as cold as CS was, whether he was told to respond in this manner or not, at the end of the day its a human life that was lost.

[Orion-XL200]

On 7/5/2024 at 1:14 AM, Tr0y said:

Regardless you can see how easily I was able to mimic some photos. And a story can be created in minutes with AI via ChatGPT.

I will say, I did talk with the OP on a private chat and they were able to verify information that only some folks would know. 

[Tr0y]

17 hours ago, Orion-XL200 said:

I will say, I did talk with the OP on a private chat and they were able to verify information that only some folks would know. 

I did a cross examination of the supposed “Whistleblowers” pictures and that of a picture of someone who follows and is followed by the park. Then proceeded to make my own twitter account to verify what KI’s twitter looks like by an individual who isn't followed by the park.

King’s Island’s birthday is shown to those who are followed by KI. Why that is? That is because it is the default setting on twitter.

Now why would someone who has access to King’s Island’s twitter account who took screenshots of the supposed account not be able to see the parks birthday??? Because they never had access to begin with. So that right there proves the Author in this thread is a fake. 

[SonofBaconator]

I shared a lot of my thoughts on this thread because I know a lot about this type of stuff and thought I would contribute. Now it feels somewhat in vain.

At this point, any legitimate argument regarding the park’s PR practices will just be seen as an attempt at slandering someone, and for what?-some form of self righteousness they feel for speaking out against current staff? 
 

I like to be able to discuss topics, point out when things seem off, give my opinion- but now I don’t know who I’m backing up and if they’re even real or just someone going out of their way to discredit someone.

[DispatchMaster]

Yeah, anonymous "trust me, bro" claims like OP's should by default be treated with enormous skepticism, especially when done in a forum that is clearly more than conducive to the "Chad is literally Satan" line of thinking.

Also, two things can simultaneously be true:

1. OP doesn't actually work at the park, or at least not in PR, and
2. The park handled this event with stunning incompetence

[silver2005]

I think it also speaks volumes to whatever ends that-

1. the OP poster has disappeared

2. this thread hasn't been closed/deleted

[IndyGuy4KI]

KIC does not know the validity of the OP claims.  It may be true; it may be totally made up. If it is the latter, we sincerely apologize for any discredit to the PR department. We left it on KIC for a few reasons. 

1. This needs to be treated just like any other employee that makes claims on social media. The KIC forums are no different just because it is a KI fan site and a different medium of communication.

2. If there was any truth to the claim, KI would want to look into the seriousness of it and decide for themselves.

3. KIC is more than happy to work with the park to help engage, excite, and promote the park any way we can. We have not changed our practices since I have taken over as media director (before Chad arrived and after Don was gone) nor do I plan to moving forward.

4. I felt like a lot of the criticism previously stemmed from the emotions about Don no longer being at the park. This seems to be more of a cry for help. 

5. Lastly, no matter how much you may disagree with the communications department at KI, we do need to be respectful of our park. At what point is calling out something that you disagree with starting to actually hurt the very park you love and are passionate about?

[KIPRWhistleblower754]

I don’t know who Troy is, nor do I know why he’s trying to discredit me, but like I said in the original post, you don’t have to believe me, but I’ve given you the tools to make a decision on your own. Just as much as I could be some lunatic making stuff up for no reason, Troy could be Chad or a loyalist to him and/or park leadership in an attempt to downplay their poor PR performance. I’d also like to point out that no one else, especially in an official capacity, has come out and said my story is false. Everyone who has witnessed not only this incident in particular, but his attitude and behavior overall knows that it’s true. In addition, I don’t know who in their right mind would go to such lengths to fabricate a story, much less photos, to somehow slander someone. Troy himself was unable to replicate the signed in X account in its entirety. I initially was thinking of sharing a screenshot of my @visitkingsisland email logged in, but it just looks like a normal Outlook account and no matter how you crop it it’s full of identifying information. However, the sign in page does show the organization my account is a part of, so I’ve attached a screenshot of that. Do with that what you will. I refuse to blame or slander the rest of the PR department, because it is made up of some truly outstanding individuals who are extremely passionate about what they do. I fear that I will not be awarded the privilege of working with people of a similar caliber in the future. This inaction and mismanagement of a multitude of situations has to do with one person and one person only. One poor leader can make a lot more people look bad than you think. I have everything to lose and nothing to gain by coming out with this information, but this isn’t about me, it’s about the workers in the leadership building that don’t have a parking spot up front complete with their name painted on it. It is not my intent to hurt the park overall, as I do think it is a special place, and I’ve spent a lot of time there in my free time growing up. That’s why I posted this, because I want it to be better. As far as my absence, it’s been a bit stressful lately with everything going on and I’m trying to distance myself from the situation after all of the messages and replies I’ve gotten. I’m in the process of landing a new position so that has been my focus. To be clear, I unequivocally deny fabricating any of my story and evidence. Lastly, I appreciate all the messages of support I’ve been given over the past few weeks!

Edited July 13 by KIPRWhistleblower754
clarification

[IBEW_Sparky]

Absolutely nothing that unfolds within upper management surprises me one bit when it comes to the company, so I have not had one shadow of a doubt this is all true from day one.  However, my thoughts are the best way to dump the naysayers as a final blank-you, would be to post this exact screenshot with your vki email addy posted and then one of you inside the main screen that shows nothing but proof so they cant slam you on any NDA you may have signed once you do land that new position.  Id certainly get a big smile out of it.

[Tr0y]

19 hours ago, KIPRWhistleblower754 said:

I don’t know who Troy is, nor do I know why he’s trying to discredit me, but like I said in the original post, you don’t have to believe me, but I’ve given you the tools to make a decision on your own. Just as much as I could be some lunatic making stuff up for no reason, Troy could be Chad or a loyalist to him and/or park leadership in an attempt to downplay their poor PR performance. I’d also like to point out that no one else, especially in an official capacity, has come out and said my story is false. Everyone who has witnessed not only this incident in particular, but his attitude and behavior overall knows that it’s true. In addition, I don’t know who in their right mind would go to such lengths to fabricate a story, much less photos, to somehow slander someone. Troy himself was unable to replicate the signed in X account in its entirety. I initially was thinking of sharing a screenshot of my @visitkingsisland email logged in, but it just looks like a normal Outlook account and no matter how you crop it it’s full of identifying information. However, the sign in page does show the organization my account is a part of, so I’ve attached a screenshot of that. Do with that what you will. I refuse to blame or slander the rest of the PR department, because it is made up of some truly outstanding individuals who are extremely passionate about what they do. I fear that I will not be awarded the privilege of working with people of a similar caliber in the future. This inaction and mismanagement of a multitude of situations has to do with one person and one person only. One poor leader can make a lot more people look bad than you think. I have everything to lose and nothing to gain by coming out with this information, but this isn’t about me, it’s about the workers in the leadership building that don’t have a parking spot up front complete with their name painted on it. It is not my intent to hurt the park overall, as I do think it is a special place, and I’ve spent a lot of time there in my free time growing up. That’s why I posted this, because I want it to be better. As far as my absence, it’s been a bit stressful lately with everything going on and I’m trying to distance myself from the situation after all of the messages and replies I’ve gotten. I’m in the process of landing a new position so that has been my focus. To be clear, I unequivocally deny fabricating any of my story and evidence. Lastly, I appreciate all the messages of support I’ve been given over the past few weeks!

Oh I haven’t made the X account in its entirety? That’s why yours didn’t include the birthday right? Oh and now that you're photos have been disproven, you want to go “Wait! Wait! I wanted to show you a log in for my email.” Well guess what? I can, and anyone else can recreate that photo. Just go to outlook.com and for email use the person’s first name ( . ) followed by the last name with @visitkingsisland.com and you get the exact same photo.

I have a pretty good idea who is behind this whistleblower account, and I’m not the only person here who thinks the same. It isn't the first time this individual tried to get Chad fired. The fact that this person has been allowed to continue to post is appalling in itself.

Look at me, I’m Mike Koontz! 

[Tr0y]

Double post, Im also Chad Showalter:

 

[KIPRWhistleblower754]

4 hours ago, IBEW_Sparky said:

Absolutely nothing that unfolds within upper management surprises me one bit when it comes to the company, so I have not had one shadow of a doubt this is all true from day one.  However, my thoughts are the best way to dump the naysayers as a final blank-you, would be to post this exact screenshot with your vki email addy posted and then one of you inside the main screen that shows nothing but proof so they cant slam you on any NDA you may have signed once you do land that new position.  Id certainly get a big smile out of it.

I was thinking that when I’m completely done I could do that, since I’d have nothing else to lose. On the other hand, I don’t feel the need to persuade people who don’t believe me, as I’ve gotten a great deal of satisfaction getting my story out there. We’ll see though.

[KIPRWhistleblower754]

42 minutes ago, Tr0y said:

Oh I haven’t made the X account in its entirety? That’s why yours didn’t include the birthday right? Oh and now you that you're photos have been disproven, you want to go “Wait! Wait! I wanted to show you a log in for my email.” Well guess what? I can, and anyone else can recreate that photo. Just go to outlook.com and for email use the person’s first name ( . ) followed by the last name with @visitkingsisland.com and you get the exact same photo.

I have a pretty good idea who is behind this whistleblower account, and I’m not the only person here who thinks the same. It isn't the first time this individual tried to get Chad fired. The fact that this person has been allowed to continue to post is appalling in itself.

Look at me, I’m Mike Koontz! 

Like I said man, I’m not going to argue with anyone about the validity of my claims. It is your right to not believe me, and if that’s what you choose to do, that’s fine. There’s no need to keep trying to discredit me. What’s done is done and those who choose to believe me will. There’s no point in continuing any sort of banter with you.

[Tr0y]

 

1 hour ago, KIPRWhistleblower754 said:

Like I said man, I’m not going to argue with anyone about the validity of my claims. It is your right to not believe me, and if that’s what you choose to do, that’s fine. There’s no need to keep trying to discredit me. What’s done is done and those who choose to believe me will. There’s no point in continuing any sort of banter with you.

And yet you did want to banter with me, you mentioned my name multiple times in your post:

 

13 hours ago, KIPRWhistleblower754 said:

I don’t know who Troy is, nor do I know why he’s trying to discredit me

13 hours ago, KIPRWhistleblower754 said:

Troy could be Chad or a loyalist

13 hours ago, KIPRWhistleblower754 said:

Troy himself was unable to replicate the signed in X account in its entirety.

 

Brad was more than generous giving you an out, you should have stopped posting then.

 

[KIPRWhistleblower754]

38 minutes ago, Tr0y said:

 

And yet you did want to banter with me, you mentioned my name multiple times in your post:

 

 

Brad was more than generous giving you an out, you should have stopped posting then.

 

Okay man. I hope you have a good rest of your weekend!

[shark6495]

I am reminded of Terp’s “Those who know don’t speak and those who speak don’t know.”

 

 

Having worked on the media side of things for years, it’s very common for PR teams to hold information till they know what is happening and figuring out what can be said legally..

 

Also comparing CP and KI events are completely different.  Twitter and the impression of twitter has changed so dramatically in the last 2-3 years.  It used to be the go to spot now it’s not.  

[DispatchMaster]

21 hours ago, shark6495 said:

Having worked on the media side of things for years, it’s very common for PR teams to hold information till they know what is happening and figuring out what can be said legally..

I am not a lawyer, but I fail to see where there's any legal risk to post what CP did in the wake of the Raptor incident, so I fail to see why there would have been any legal risk for KI to do the same when the same thing happened at KI. It's a terrible move to leave an information vacuum to be filled in with rumors and misinformation.

Quote

At approximately 5 p.m., a guest entered a restricted, fenced area of the Raptor roller coaster and was struck by the ride. Park safety officials responded immediately to the situation. Unfortunately the guest has passed away. Local authorities are on the scene conducting an investigation.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family at this time.

Where's the legal exposure in the above statement?

21 hours ago, shark6495 said:

Also comparing CP and KI events are completely different.  Twitter and the impression of twitter has changed so dramatically in the last 2-3 years.  It used to be the go to spot now it’s not.

Nonsense. The events are virtually identical - a guest lost an item(s) in a restricted area, and circumvented multiple barriers to retrieve said item(s), was struck by the ride and subsequently died from their injuries. KI could quite literally have copied CP's media comment and replaced "Raptor" with "Banshee" and that's it (the medium (press release, Twitter post, etc.) is irrelevant). That they couldn't meet that incredibly low bar is pretty bad. 

[shark6495]

Again I was speaking from past experience in general.  Most PR teams wait to see what legal ramifications could happen from the event and are very close to the vest.  If something looks to victim blame or could have happened because they were negligent.  Again having worked the media side of events, PR teams are not known for telling us (news) things till they know what the story is and how they can control the narrative without opening them selves up legally.  Just because you do not see the legal ramifications doesn’t mean someone else couldn’t.  

 

 

And yes, social media and PR have changed drastically in the last 6 months let alone years. People consume media so fast and spread information so fast that when stuff is delayed by hours or days it feels like a massive cover up.  

 

Can we Monday morning QB what we would have done, sure.  But fortunately or unfortunately KI doesn’t owe us immediate information till they can verify what why and how something happened.   I’m the first to decry KI when things go wrong but the PR machine not getting information out to the gen pop is not one of those times.  

[DispatchMaster]

1 hour ago, shark6495 said:

Just because you do not see the legal ramifications doesn’t mean someone else couldn’t.  

I don't dispute that whoever decided on silence had their reasoning. My contention is that their reasoning comes from a place of gross incompetence, rather than experience. I fail to see the legal exposure from CP's statement, and the vague allusions you make do nothing to convince me otherwise.

1 hour ago, shark6495 said:

And yes, social media and PR have changed drastically in the last 6 months let alone years.

No it has not. Social media has not substantively changed since Twitter came on the scene, and even the change brought by Twitter I would argue is not "drastic". Information traveled fast when FB was the hottest game in town, and it's no different now. The statement from CP above also went out on Twitter, so the idea that things are "drastically" different now is nonsensical.

1 hour ago, shark6495 said:

People consume media so fast and spread information so fast that when stuff is delayed by hours or days it feels like a massive cover up.  

Agreed, which makes the lack of a statement from KI all the more darning! Again, a simple, slightly opaque statement like the one CP put out stating the basic facts, and nothing more, is all they needed to do. And they failed to do that, which, to your point, could make it appear the park is trying to hide something.

And it's not Monday morning QB-ing! This is basic, 101-level PR stuff! Getting the basic facts out to the public makes it less likely that misinformation and rumors take hold. And once rumors take hold, subsequent comments by the park look like a response to the rumors, which adds to the "cover up" appearance.

[Browntggrr]

Very disturbing story.

So disturbing that the validity should be questioned.  It's too detailed.  What gave me the "is this a real story?" thought is when the poster mentioned living close to the park.  Every co-worker can't live that close & use those same words where the identity would be easily known.

My biggest question is- why post this story on a fan site?  Surely the mainstream media would/ could ask the right questions to the right PR people.

Also- did the park release anything that the victim did walk away??  I didn't see anything like that.  I did see the statement which seemed to echo among most media outlets:

 

Quote

The man “entered a restricted, fenced area of the Banshee roller coaster and is believed to have been struck by the ride,” Kings Island said in a statement Wednesday night to FOX19 NOW.

“The park’s safety and first aid personnel responded immediately to the situation and contacted local emergency responders. The guest was transported to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center. The ride remains closed while local authorities and park personnel conduct an investigation. Kings Island’s focus continues to be on the welfare of the guest and his family.”

 

 

[shark6495]

18 minutes ago, Browntggrr said:

 

My biggest question is- why post this story on a fan site?  Surely the mainstream media would/ could ask the right questions to the right PR people.

 

I assume like you that we have to question the validity of this entire post.  

(And if its not valid) The why seems like they either have axe to grind or want the internet fame 

[Browntggrr]

^ I have zero inside knowledge of KI personnel but have heard rumblings through here & other grapevines about the current KI PR staff having questionable decision-making skills.

I also am a firm believer that you do not need to make a bad employee look bad- they do it on their own.

If the story is true, I question upper/ executive management's reluctance in dismissing an employee that is obviously not cut out for the job.

[beastfan11]

I betcha that Dick Kinzel guy is behind all this. Never trusted him or those tiny cups. 

[Orion-XL200]

8 hours ago, DispatchMaster said:

I don't dispute that whoever decided on silence had their reasoning. My contention is that their reasoning comes from a place of gross incompetence, rather than experience. I fail to see the legal exposure from CP's statement, and the vague allusions you make do nothing to convince me otherwise.

No it has not. Social media has not substantively changed since Twitter came on the scene, and even the change brought by Twitter I would argue is not "drastic". Information traveled fast when FB was the hottest game in town, and it's no different now. The statement from CP above also went out on Twitter, so the idea that things are "drastically" different now is nonsensical.

Agreed, which makes the lack of a statement from KI all the more darning! Again, a simple, slightly opaque statement like the one CP put out stating the basic facts, and nothing more, is all they needed to do. And they failed to do that, which, to your point, could make it appear the park is trying to hide something.

And it's not Monday morning QB-ing! This is basic, 101-level PR stuff! Getting the basic facts out to the public makes it less likely that misinformation and rumors take hold. And once rumors take hold, subsequent comments by the park look like a response to the rumors, which adds to the "cover up" appearance.

Thank you for a great response! I agree 100% 

[KIPRWhistleblower754]

On 7/18/2024 at 1:19 PM, Browntggrr said:

Very disturbing story.

So disturbing that the validity should be questioned.  It's too detailed.  What gave me the "is this a real story?" thought is when the poster mentioned living close to the park.  Every co-worker can't live that close & use those same words where the identity would be easily known.

My biggest question is- why post this story on a fan site?  Surely the mainstream media would/ could ask the right questions to the right PR people.

Also- did the park release anything that the victim did walk away??  I didn't see anything like that.  I did see the statement which seemed to echo among most media outlets:

 

 

All great questions, and I can answer a few:

 

1. I’d say about 60% of the department lives fairly close. Although some commute all the way from Dayton or Kentucky, which I couldn’t ever do. 

2. This is a mixed bag. I contemplated whether I should even do this, and when I decided I should, I also questioned where I should get it out. What I did first was email the local news stations’ respective news desk with similar text to the post I made. One didn’t respond. The rest wanted me to do on a camera interview. Even though they offered to do it “anonymously”, I wasn’t willing to go that far. I thought of KIC because I am an active member and I know there are people here that could relate and provide more opinions on the matter. I also tried some Facebook groups, but those wouldn’t accept my post. (The existence of this post does not mean that KIC supports or endorses it).

3. The initial “panic” response to the first news stations who called was that. However, the person who took those calls got pushback, because of course the news stations had already heard the radio traffic. That’s when our official statement was amended. Funnily enough, that statement is the most current one available. A crude example is the Chernobyl disaster. We now know that thousands died. The official Soviet death toll, to this day, remains around 30. At a much smaller scale, that’s kind of a parallel to what’s happening here.

 

 Thanks for asking your questions in a constructive manner. If you’d like me to clarify further, let me know, I’d be more than happy to.

[Tr0y]

21 hours ago, KIPRWhistleblower754 said:

All great questions, and I can answer a few:

2. This is a mixed bag. I contemplated whether I should even do this, and when I decided I should, I also questioned where I should get it out. What I did first was email the local news stations’ respective news desk with similar text to the post I made. One didn’t respond. The rest wanted me to do on a camera interview. Even though they offered to do it “anonymously”, I wasn’t willing to go that far. I thought of KIC because I am an active member and I know there are people here that could relate and provide more opinions on the matter. I also tried some Facebook groups, but those wouldn’t accept my post. (The existence of this post does not mean that KIC supports or endorses it).

 Thanks for asking your questions in a constructive manner. If you’d like me to clarify further, let me know, I’d be more than happy to.

An active member? As in this isn’t your main account???

[PKIDelirium]

The Twitter/X page doesn't show the birthday because you have to be followed by the account to see it, and you can't follow yourself, so it doesn't show except for in Edit Profile...

[standbyme]

1 hour ago, Tr0y said:

An active member? As in this isn’t your main account???

I don’t think it takes an Einstein to realize that Whistleblower created an account to anonymously tell his/her story….so I hope you aren’t going to attempt to be shocked by this revelation. 
(I don’t think Woodward & Bernstein ever thought for one moment that Deep Throat wasn’t an alias.  )

[Tr0y]

2 minutes ago, standbyme said:

I don’t think it takes an Einstein to realize that Whistleblower created an account to anonymously tell his/her story….so I hope you aren’t going to attempt to be shocked by this revelation. 
(I don’t think Woodward & Bernstein ever thought for one moment that Deep Throat wasn’t an alias.  )

I’m not shocked that this person is doing this, given they’ve gone behind closed doors before. I’m more shocked that this thread is still around.

The whole thing is against KIC’s TOS:

 

[PKIDelirium]

What's a Cedar Fair?  Looks like the TOS is breaking the TOS.