Explained: Why did Sydney Morning Herald apologise for reporting Rebel Wilson’s new relationship

On Monday morning, Sydney Morning Herald columnist Andrew Hornery admitted he made mistakes in his approach to Australian actor Rebel Wilson’s new relationship, her first with a woman. Wilson had said that the Australian newspaper had put her in a “very hard situation” after fans accused the publication of pressuring her to reveal her relationship with a woman. What happened?  The Pitch Perfect actor had posted a selfie with her “Disney Princess” partner to Instagram on Friday, a day before the Sydney Morning Herald reported it had known about the relationship and given Wilson two days to comment.

The Herald denied pressuring Wilson, and said it had “simply asked questions”.

⁩“oh we just ask the questions..”

What exactly do you think she would have thought when you asked the questions?

Disingenuous

Low rent behaviour

How would these journalists and editors feel if these questions were asked about their private life? pic.twitter.com/9MivpB1E1L

— Raf Epstein (@Raf_Epstein) June 12, 2022

In her first comments on the controversy, Wilson responded on Sunday to a Twitter user who accused the Herald of giving two days’ notice that they were going to out the actor. “It was a very hard situation but trying to handle it with grace,” Wilson tweeted. What was SMH’s original stance? According to the newspaper, its gossip columnist had put questions to Wilson about her relationship “with an abundance of caution and respect”. “Big mistake. Wilson opted to gazump the story, posting about her new ‘Disney Princess’ on Instagram early Friday morning,” columnist Andrew Hornery wrote in an article published Saturday. As outrage built on social media, Herald editor Bevan Shields defended the column. “We would have asked the same questions had Wilson’s new partner been a man,” Shields wrote. Did SMH publish an apology column? After complaining on Saturday about being gazumped on a story about Wilson’s new partner, Ramona Agruma, Hornery has written a new column apologising for his reaction and saying he will take a different approach from now on. Saturday’s column has been removed and replaced with the new one. An email he wrote giving Wilson a two-day deadline to respond to his plans to write about the relationship was not meant to be a threat, he wrote, but he could now see why it was seen as one. Monday’s apology column followed a public backlash to the SMH over its approach to the story. This was not the first time Wilson has sparred with the Australian media – in 2017, she was awarded a record AUS$4.7 million ($3.3 million) defamation payout over a series of articles that claimed she had lied about her name, age and childhood to get ahead in Hollywood. After the magazine publisher successfully appealed, Wilson’s award was revised to A$600,000. (With inputs from Agence France-Presse)