How Much Can PR Cover?

I get a weekly update in politics and business from The Economist, and I happened to notice a story at the very bottom of it. Typically, I like The Economist because it seems pretty close to an unbiased source of news. This is the last part of the weekly update:

Out of fashion

John Galliano was sacked as Christian Dior’s lead designer for professional misconduct. This came after a video surfaced of Mr Galliano apparently making anti-Semitic remarks to customers in a Paris restaurant and declaring “I love Hitler”. Mr Galliano was admitted to the French Legion of Honour in 2009.

When I read this, I was shocked! When I hear about anti-Semitism, I think about Kramer from Seinfeld a few years back, and before that, not much.

I question how much help PR can be for this person of status. How will this affect him in the long run? Public Relations nightmares can be really long lasting. He's been fired, but how much damage will he have to deal with at this point?