Getty Rebel Wilson
The Sydney Morning Herald Journalist Andrew Hornery has apologised for how the paper “mishandled the steps in our approach” in its report on Rebel Wilson’s new relationship.
On Thursday, the Last year The 42-year-old actress revealed in an Instagram post that she is dating Ramona Agruma.
Days after the star shared news about her relationship, the Herald published an op-ed (since deleted) by Hornery that noted that the paper gave Wilson two days to provide a comment on her new romance before they planned to announce it.
Wilson’s online supporters criticized the newspaper for how it handled the situation, including journalist Kate Doak, who wrote on Twitter“So, apparently it wasn’t @RebelWilson’s decision to come out… @smh/@theage admitted to giving her two days notice that they were going to ‘out her.'”
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In response to Kate Doak, Wilson tweeted back To Doak: “Thank you for your comments, it was a very difficult situation but I’m trying to handle it with grace.”
In a column published on the newspaper’s website on Monday, Hornery said she “sincerely regrets” that Wilson felt pressured to go public with her new relationship.
“It was never my intention, but I see that she has handled it all with extraordinary grace. As a gay man, I am acutely aware of how much discrimination hurts,” the columnist wrote. “The last thing I would want to do is inflict that pain on someone else.”
Hornery admitted in the apology column that “we mishandled the steps in our approach,” sharing the purported full text of the email she sent to Wilson’s management team but stating that “[Rebel’s]response would have largely determined what I published, and as my editor noted on Sunday, at that point the company had made no decision.” From the herald “editors decide whether to publish something or not.”
“I didn’t receive any response, which was Rebel’s right,” he added.
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Thank you for your comments, it was a very difficult situation but I am trying to handle it with grace
— Rebel Wilson (@RebelWilson) June 12, 2022
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“Is not the From the herald “The company is about ‘ratting’ people out and that’s not what we set out to do. But I understand why my email has been seen as a threat. The way you framed it was a mistake,” Hornery wrote. “The Herald And I will approach things differently from now on to make sure we always keep in mind the extra layer of complexities people face when it comes to their sexuality.”
He also said the “tone” of his original column, published on Saturday local time, “was also out of place.”
“I was wrong. I allowed my disappointment to overshadow the piece. That wasn’t fair and I apologize,” Hornery added. “As a result, the Herald “I’ll be removing Saturday’s column and replacing it with this one.”
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On Thursday, the actress revealed in an Instagram post that she is dating Agruma, who is a fashion and jewelry designer.
“I thought I was looking for a Disney Prince… but maybe what I really needed all along was a Disney Princess #lovelove,” Wilson captioned the image that showed her smiling alongside her girlfriend.
Hornery’s original piece commented on how she felt about Wilson choosing not to collaborate with the publication to announce their relationship. “Wilson chose to suppress the story, posting about his new ‘Disney Princess,'” she wrote. (The op-ed also commented on the Pitch perfect (The star’s past relationship with a man.)
