Following Rebel Wilson’s coming out announcement, it appears the actress’ personal revelation may have been persuaded by an Australian newspaper.
In the Sydney Morning Herald, a private columnist named Andrew Hornery wrote an opinion piece stating that the publication sought comment from the “Senior Year” actress regarding her relationship with girlfriend Ramona Agruma prior to making their romance public in Wilson’s June 9 Instagram post.
“It was an abundance of caution and respect that this media outlet emailed Rebel Wilson’s representatives on Thursday morning,” Hornery wrote in the published piece dated June 11, “giving her two days to comment on her new relationship with another woman, LA leisure wear designer Ramona Agruma, before publishing a single word.”
“Big mistake,” he added. “Wilson opted to gazump the story, posting about her new ‘Disney Princess’ on Instagram early Friday morning.”
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Hornery continued, writing, “Considering how bitterly Wilson had complained about poor journalism standards when she successfully sued Woman’s Day for defamation, her choice to ignore our discreet, genuine and honest queries was, in our view, underwhelming.”
Elsewhere in the piece, Hornery claimed that the article outing Wilson wouldn’t have been that big of a deal since “sexual orientation is no longer something to be hidden, even in Hollywood.”
The journalist and newspaper quickly became subjects under fire as social media users slammed them online.
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“Are they for real? They think they’re being ‘respectful’ by giving her 2 days to comment on her relationship before publishing a story [about] it? And now they’re annoyed at her for ignoring them & telling the world herself,” wrote one Twitter user. “You couldn’t make this sh*t up! @smh scumbags!”
“An appalling thing for the paper to try to do,” another added.
Wilson, nor anyone from her team, have yet to comment on Hornery’s claims about Sydney Morning Herald.