Hollywood publicists for alcohol-plagued David Hasselhoff have uncorked one far-fetched alibi after another for his repeated falls off the wagon.
His spin-meisters are doing the 57-year-old host of America's Got Talent no favors by making excuses for his destructive drinking, says a sobriety expert.
Here are just some of the Hoff's missteps from the last few years - and the explanations offered by his publicists.
July 26, 2006: A newspaper reports Hasselhoff was turned away from an airline flight in England because he was too drunk. "Totally untrue," fired back his publicist Judy Katz, who claimed the actor had a bad reaction to some antibiotics.
Oct. 8, 2007: The "Baywatch hero checks into Cedars-Sinai after a booze bender. His publicist brushes it off by saying: "David had a brief relapse and immediately recognized the importance of addressing it with the assistance of hisdoctors."
April 19, 2008: The Hoff is reported to have been taken to UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles after a drinking binge. Not true, says Katz, who claims he went there to have something removed above his eye. "He's fine. He had something removed. He's coming out." She declined to tell reporters what object was removed from the actor's eye.
May 2, 2009: Reports that the Knight Rider hunk had suffered "alcohol poisoning" were exaggerated, insists Katz. He was "quickly discharged" from the hospital and spent the next night celebrating his father's 80th birthday. "He's fine and well and happy," she said.
Sept. 20, 2009: David is rushed to the hospital suffering from alcohol poisoning after his daughter finds him. Katz claims he had an ear infection. She says his antihistamine reacted with the Antabuse he takes to stop drinking and messed up his equilibrium.
The incident was a sad sequel to a headline-making 2007 spectacle in which his daughter filmed him in a drunken stupor - sloppily eating food off the floor.
Dr. Judy Kuriansky, a New York clinical psychologist and addiction expert, told The ENQUIRER that those around Hasselhoff are doing the star a grave disservice by making excuses for his alcoholism.
"What they are doing is potentially deadly," she said. "By protecting David with excuses, they become the voice of denial for him, negating the reality of his situation. The truth never comes through to him because of the spin they put on his embarrassing incidents.
"Their so-called damage control can cost him his life if he continues to drink out of control."
To make matters worse, the spin-meisters are reinforcing his pattern of behavior - providing a road map for him to follow, says the prominent psychologist.
"He simply hides behind their words and repeats them, and if he does this often enough, he starts to believe the spin. They are doing tremendous harm."
The ENQUIRER contacted Hasselhoff's publicist for an explanation, but she would not come to the phone and ignored repeated requests for comment.
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