Australian paper apologises for ‘outing’ actress Wilson
THE Sydney Morning Herald has issued an apology after being accused of “outing” the actress Rebel Wilson by forcing her to reveal she is dating a woman.
Andrew Hornery, a gossip columnist for the Australian newspaper, was criticised on social media after an article about the Bridesmaids actress’s latest relationship.
Mr Hornery admitted the paper had “mishandled steps in our approach” when trying to break the news that Ms Wilson, who had previously only publicly dated men, was in a relationship with fashion designer Ramona Agruma.
Ms Wilson first announced her relationship on Friday via Instagram, posting a selfie with Ms Agruma and calling her a “Disney Princess”.
Mr Hornery’s column, published the next day, revealed that The Herald had known about the relationship before Ms Wilson’s Instagram post and had on Thursday given the actor two days to comment.
“Big mistake. Wilson opted to gazump the story, posting about her new ‘Disney Princess’ on Instagram early Friday morning,” Hornery wrote in his Saturday column.
The article prompted outrage on social media, with many LGBT activists and others accusing the newspaper of forcing Ms Wilson to out herself.
The Herald initially denied putting pressure on Ms Wilson and yesterday removed the online article and issued an apology from Hornery.
In her first comments on the controversy, made to a journalist who criticised The Herald’s approach, Ms Wilson tweeted on Sunday: “It was a very hard situation but trying to handle it with grace.”