Before Rebel Wilson, the Australian actress and comedian, publicly announced their new relationship, an Australian celebrity columnist had given her reps less than two days to comment before publishing a column about the new couple.
In a since-deleted column published in the Sydney Morning Herald on Saturday, columnist Andrew Hornery said that rather than “out” Ms Wilson, 42, he “played it safe” and gave her representatives two days commented on her relationship with Ramona Agruma, a designer, “before she releases a single word.”
“In a perfect world, same-sex celebrity relationships ‘outing’ in 2022 should be a redundant concept,” wrote Mr. Hornery. “Love is love, right?”
“Big mistake,” Mr Hornery said in the deleted column, adding that Ms Wilson “choose to look at history” by first revealing their relationship on Instagram.
The column drew criticism online from Ms Wilson’s fans, fellow journalists and members of the LGBTQ community, who say the decision to come out and the timing of it is a personal one. While Ms Wilson had previously shared photos of herself with Ms Agruma online, she had not publicly revealed they were dating.
In the Instagram post, Ms. Wilson, who is known for her roles in Bridesmaids and Pitch Perfect, shared that she was in a relationship with Ms. Agruma, the founder of a Los Angeles-based fashion brand.
“I thought I was looking for a Disney prince… but maybe I really needed a Disney princess all the time,” Ms. Wilson said in the post, which has been “liked” more than 1.8 million times.
A representative for Ms Wilson declined comment Monday and Ms Agruma did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In light of the online criticism, Ms. Wilson tweeted on Sunday that “it was a very difficult situation” but that she “tried to deal with it with grace”.
Mr Hornery, who is gay, wrote in his celebrity column Private Sydney on Saturday that Ms Wilson’s “decision to ignore his discreet, genuine and honest questions” was underwhelming in our view.”
“Of course who someone dates is her business, but luckily Wilson piqued such a lecherous interest when she had a handsome boyfriend,” wrote Mr. Hornery, an apparent reference to Jacob Busch, a descendant of the family that owned the American Brewery founded company Anheuser-Busch.
Mr Hornery did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday.
In a new column published on Monday, he said the newspaper had “mishandled steps in our approach” and that the original column had been removed from The Morning Herald’s website. The new column was captioned, “I made mistakes at Rebel Wilson and will learn from them.”
“I really regret that Rebel found this difficult,” Mr Hornery wrote. “It was never my intention. But I see she handled it all with extraordinary grace. As a gay man, I know how much discrimination hurts. The last thing I ever want to do is cause someone else that pain.”
In a statement, Cathy Renna, a spokeswoman for the National LGBTQ Task Force, said that “not coming out on one’s own terms can be a personal and professional challenge, even when it’s a positive, celebratory, inspirational act like Wilson’s Coming out post was acting for so many.”
“As we see a generation of young people — and most people — cheer and then go about their lives when a celebrity comes out, we know there’s still anti-LGBTQ sentiment and reaction that shapes our lives in many ways.” respect,” she said.
Aryn Fields, a spokeswoman for the Human Rights Campaign, said the decision to come out was “a deeply personal decision.”
“Each of us deserves the opportunity to speak out on our own terms – and if that wasn’t the case with Rebel Wilson, it should have been,” Ms. Fields said.
In his new column, Mr Hornery said he emailed Ms Wilson’s management on Thursday morning to ask if she would like to comment on the relationship, noting that his deadline was 1pm on Friday :00 am. He said he has multiple sources who have confirmed the relationship, but is seeking comment “in the interests of transparency and fairness.”
The next morning, Ms Wilson shared her Instagram post.
“I received no reply, which was absolutely Rebel’s right,” Mr. Hornery wrote. He said that in the future the newspaper will take more care with stories that touch on people’s sexuality. “It’s not the Herald’s business to ‘out’ people and that’s not what we intend to do. But I understand why my email was considered a threat. The design was a mistake.”
In an editor’s note published Sunday, Bevan Shields, the editor of The Morning Herald, owned by Nine Entertainment, said he had read the feedback about the column carefully.
But Mr. Shields wrote that “to say that the Herald ‘outed’ Wilson is incorrect”.
He said the columnist “simply asked questions and set a deadline for a response by default.”
“I had made no decision as to whether or what to publish,” Mr. Shields wrote, saying he considered her response. “Wilson made the decision to publicly announce her new partner, which has been a feature of her social media accounts for months.”