Journalist Apologizes for Plans to 'Out' Rebel Wilson

An Australian journalist apologized after being accused of outing Rebel Wilson.

The actor revealed via Instagram on Friday that she was in a relationship with another woman, but now it has emerged that her decision to go public with the news was partly motivated by the fact that the Sydney Morning Herald was planning to run a story on Wilson's relationship with Ramona Agruma.

In a now-deleted column, journalist Andrew Hornery wrote that he had approached Wilson's representatives via email for comment on the new relationship and had given two days for them to respond before publishing the article, according to the Washington Post. Wilson did not respond in the allocated time. Instead, she announced on Instagram that she was dating Argurma. Hornery stated that Wilson had "opted to gazump the story" after he'd been in touch. 

Backlash ensued, with fans, LGBTQ groups and other journalists accusing Hornery of outing Wilson. 

"Coming out is a deeply personal decision. Whether, when, and how to come out should be decided by the individual, entirely on their terms" LGBTQ rights organization Stonewall said in a statement, according to BBC. "It is simply not OK to 'out' LGBTQ+ people or put pressure on us to come out. Media outlets should take care not to sensationalize LGBTQ+ lives and relationships."

Herald Editor Bevan Shields initially responded to the outcry by defending Hornery, saying that gender had nothing to do with the story, which was "not a standard news story."

"We would have asked the same questions had Wilson’s new partner been a man," Shields wrote, according to the Post. "To say that the Herald ‘outed’ Wilson is wrong."

Shields added that it was "standard practice" for the paper to ask questions. 

"I had made no decision about whether or what to publish, and the Herald’s decision about what to do would have been informed by any response Wilson supplied," Shields wrote. 

By Monday, however, the column was replaced by a new one in which Hornery apologized for his insensitive tone.

"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," he wrote, later admitting "we mishandled steps in our approach."

Hornery said he did not intend for his email in which he approached Wilson for comment to come across as a threat and admitted that the "framing of it was a mistake." He added that the tone of his email "was also off."

"I got it wrong," he wrote. "I allowed my disappointment to cast a shadow over the piece. That was not fair, and I apologize."

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