There’s no denying Sean Spicer has made an impression as a media spokesperson.
But his time as the White House press secretary is drawing to a close and will finish in August after he announced his resignation in August.
No-one would pretend that defending President Donald Trump’s seemingly endless tweets, or his policies, would be a straight-forward job.
But his tenure got off to a pretty disastrous start and things never really got much better, even if Mr Trump did praise him for his ‘great television ratings'.
Here is our look back at some of the most memorable moments from his time in the job.
The worst press conference
Mr Spicer’s brief tenure as White House press secretary included one of the most bizarre press conferences we have ever seen.
Shortly after President Trump’s inauguration, Mr Spicer held an impromptu briefing which appeared to have been organised with the sole aim of attacking the gathered media.
It was a conference which broke many media relations and media training rules.
The conference got off to a bad start as Mr Spicer kept reporters waiting for an hour after the allotted start time. He then accused the media of ‘deliberately false reporting’ the viewing figures for President Trump’s inauguration.
And this theme continued throughout, ending with a tirade about holding the media to account and a threat to bypass traditional news outlets and use social media to speak to the American public.
Perhaps the most memorable thing about the press conference was the anger in the delivery. Mr Spicer appeared to start in a vexed frame of mind – gripping the lectern with both hands – and his mood appeared to deteriorate as it went along. The angrier he got the more stilted his delivery became and it was noticeable he increasingly stumbled over his words as is went along.
Not long after the conference, his shouty, angry demeanour was lampooned by comedian Melissa McCarthy on Saturday Night Live for the first time.
Hiding
One of the most bizarre episodes of Mr Spicer’s tenure came when he reportedly hid in bushes near the White House to avoid reporters covering the decision to fire FBI chief James Comey.
The Washington Post reported he retreated to a hedge after giving a TV interview.
It added that he later emerged ready to provide answers to other journalists as long as he was not filmed.
The publication famously later amended its story to report that Mr Spicer has been ‘among’ bushes rather than ‘in’ – following a White House intervention.
Farwell, Sean Spicer. Live peacefully among the bushes. pic.twitter.com/Lw78V12XS9
— Allie Erenbaum (@aerenbaum) July 21, 2017
Becoming the story
There are a few examples of Mr Spicer becoming the focus of media stories and causing embarrassment to the administration by ‘misspeaking’.
But the one which really stood out was when Mr Spicer made headlines when talking about Syria and claiming Adolf Hitler ‘never stooped’ to using chemical weapons on his own people.
The comment caused outcry with the Anne Frank Centre for Mutual Respect calling Mr Spicer the ‘most offensive press secretary ever’ and calling for his resignation.
Mr Spicer later apologised for his ‘inappropriate and insensitive reference to the Holocaust’.
When his lunch appeared at a press briefing
When Mr Spicer spoke to the media towards the end of March, the big news was expected to be repealing ObamaCare.
Instead the focus of media and social media attention was some lettuce lodged in his teeth during the briefing.
On our media training courses we tell participants how certain clothes and behaviours can distract audiences during a media interview. The same can certainly be said of Mr Spicer’s lunch and it all could have been avoided with a quick glance in the mirror.
The rotting food in @PressSec Sean Spicer's teeth is distracting and makes it hard to absorb today's WH misinformation. ;^P pic.twitter.com/oPaA0ziGKN
— Jim Carrey (@JimCarrey) March 27, 2017
Bathrobe
When the New York Times reported on the ‘chaos’ of Mr Trump’s first few weeks in power, there was one detail which seemed to really annoy Mr Spicer.
In fact, he called it the ‘epitome of fake news’. It was the assertion that Mr Trump wears a bathrobe.
Mr Spicer said: “I don’t think the president owns a bathrobe. He definitely doesn’t wear one.”
This was, perhaps inevitably, met with a wave of pictures on social media of Mr Trump in a bathrobe – something the world did not necessarily need to see.
Sean Spicer: "I don't think the president owns a bathrobe."
— Casey Clemmons (@Casey_Clemmons) February 6, 2017
Anyone with internet access: pic.twitter.com/SNZBoG0Zcn
.@seanspicer Trump has hotels. Each room has a bathrobe. There's probably a warehouse full of bathrobes. He definitely has a bathrobe.
— John Levenstein (@johnlevenstein) February 6, 2017
Media First are media and communications training specialists with over 30 years of experience. We have a team of trainers, each with decades of experience working as journalists, presenters, communications coaches and media trainers.
Click here to find out more about our journalist-led media training courses.
Subscribe here to be among the first to receive our blogs.