First, the Sydney Morning Herald tried to out Rebel Wilson and her new girlfriend. Then, when she beat the outlet to the punch and broke her own news, the Australian newspaper complained that it didn’t get to publish the scoop. Finally, the reporter admitted Monday that he messed up.
“I genuinely regret that Rebel has found this hard,” senior journalist Andrew Horney wrote in a new column about his “mistakes.”
“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.”
Wilson, best known for playing Fat Amy in the “Pitch Perfect” movies, revealed her new relationship Friday, posting an Instagram selfie with her “Disney princess” Ramona Agruma. But Wilson’s announcement wasn’t a cheery moment of joy, but rather a response to the Herald’s email days earlier that they were going to report on her and her girlfriend.
Horney confirmed the email Monday.
“In the interests of transparency and fairness, before publishing I am reaching out to Rebel to see if she will engage in what I believe is a happy and unexpected news story for her, especially given the recent Pride celebrations,” the email read, he wrote in his column.
Wilson never responded to the email, but took matters into her own hands.
In a “Private Sydney” column Saturday, Horney blasted Wilson for scooping him on her own personal life, saying she “opted to gazump the story.”
“Her choice to ignore our discreet, genuine and honest queries was, in our view, underwhelming,” he wrote.
That column has since been deleted, Horney said. In its place is his Monday admission that the “framing” of his original email made it seem like a threat to the actress.
“The Herald and I will approach things differently from now on to make sure we always take into consideration the extra layer of complexities people face when it comes to their sexuality,” he wrote.
“Celebrities have huge influence in our culture. We still have to ask questions, sometimes very difficult ones. It would be much worse to write gossip items about the unscripted events in their lives without them having a chance to have their say. But we need to make it clear that a deadline is not an ultimatum.”
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