Rebel Wilson has reacted after an Australian newspaper reportedly tried to out the actress by reporting on her new relationship.
The Sydney Morning Herald published a now-deleted opinion piece, explaining that it had reached out to the “Senior Year” actress so she could comment before they planned to announce their new relationship her with fashion designer Ramona Agruma.
Several journalists, including Megha Mohanand and Tyson Shine, along with many of Rebel’s fans, took to social media to criticize the newspaper, accusing them of trying to get rid of the actress before she revealed the relationship. generation. homo𝓈ℯ𝓍ual system.
One journalist, Kate Doak, was the first to report that Wilson’s coming out may not have been her own choice.
—Kate Doak (@katedoak) June 11, 2022
“So apparently it wasn’t @RebelWilson’s choice to come out,” Doak wrote on Twitter Friday, adding that the Sydney Morning Herald “have admitted to giving her a heads up 2 days in advance that they were going to ‘out’ her.”
Wilson responded to Doak’s tweet writing: “Thanks for your comments, it was a very hard situation but trying to handle it with grace.”
—Rebel Wilson (@RebelWilson) June 12, 2022
The Sydney Morning Herald said they gave Wilson two days to comment on her new relationship, but later said they ‘mishandled’ reporting the story
Wilson announced her new relationship to Agruma on Instagram last Thursday.
As previously reported by Insider, Wilson uploaded a photo of herself and Agruma on the social media platform with the caption, “I thought I was searching for a Disney Prince… but maybe what I really needed all this time was a Disney Princess 💗🌈💗#loveislove.”
Sydney Morning Herald columnist Andrew Hornery wrote on Saturday that Wilson posted about her new relationship after the Herald had reached out for comment with plans to write about it.
“In a perfect world, ‘outing’ same-𝓈ℯ𝓍 celebrity relationships should be a redundant concept in 2022. Love is love, right?” Hornery wrote. “As Rebel Wilson knows, we do not live in a perfect world.”
“So it was out of an abundance of caution and respect that this media outlet emailed Rebel Wilson’s representatives on Thursday morning, giving her two days to comment on her new relationship with a woman. another woman, LA leisurewear designer Ramona Agruma,” Hornery continued, “before publishing a single word.”
Following backlash on social media, the opinion column was removed from the Herald’s website. Instead, readers are now directed to another Hornery opinion piece titled “I Made Mistakes About Rebel Wilson and Will Learn from Them”.
In the piece, the columnist wrote: “I genuinely regret that Rebel has found this hard. That was never my intention. But I see she has handled it all with extraordinary grace. As a gay man, I’m well aware of how deeply discrimination hurts. The last thing I would ever want to do is inflict that pain on someone else.”
Hornery also clarified that by him asking Wilson to comment on her relationship, didn’t mean he intended to out her.
“It is not the Herald’s business to ‘out’ people and that is not what we set out to do. But I understand why my email has been seen as a threat. The framing of it was a mistake,” he added.