Pretty much. From that same Deadspin article:
Last night, the smirking teen, Nick Sandmann, was identified in a statement issued in his name by the publicity firm his parents hired for him, in which he suggested that he was in fact the victim in the situation.
(Bolding mine).
Digging deeper: Covington Catholic video: RunSwitch PR helped Nick Sandmann
Asked about its role, RunSwitch released a statement saying that the firm "has been retained by the Sandmann family to offer professional counsel with what has become a national media story. We are working with the family to ensure an accurate recounting of events which occurred this past weekend.”
So yeah, while a 16-year-old maybe could have written that, we know that this kid’s parents hired a fucking PR firm to run damage control.
Holy fucking shit.
Can you imagine being so fucking privileged that when a picture of you being an asshole goes viral, your parents will hire a PUBLIC RELATIONS AND MARKETING COMPANY to help manage your image. That they not only have the money to be able to afford to hire a PR firm, but are so interested in coddling their brat that they’ll actually fucking do it.
This is how you get Affluenza, kids. This is why this particular strain of bully wins. Personally, I’ve gone from “I hope he gets some actual comeuppance over this” to “I hope he gets castrated with a rusty knife”.