The journalist who threatened to out Rebel Wilson's has finally spoken out to admit that he 'made mistakes'.
Wilson, 42, was flooded with congratulations after she announced that she had found her 'Disney princess' on Friday (June 10).
What those sending their well wishes to the Pitch Perfect did not know was that the actor had received an email from Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) journalist Andrew Hornery asking for comment before he outed her publicly in the press.
Despite writing an article to defend himself - which has now been removed from the SMH's website - Hornery has now apologised for his actions.
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"On the weekend I wrote about the background leading to Rebel Wilson’s social media post revealing her new relationship with another woman," Hornery wrote in his piece entitled ‘I made mistakes over Rebel Wilson, and will learn from them’.
"I have learnt some new and difficult lessons from this ... I genuinely regret that Rebel has found this hard. That was never my intention,” Hornery said.
"But I see she has handled it all with extraordinary grace. As a gay man I’m well aware of how deeply discrimination hurts."
He added: "The last thing I would ever want to do is inflict that pain on someone else.”
The apologetic piece has been a 180-degree change in stance from Hornery and the SMH.
In the now-deleted SMH article, entitled 'Coming out, Rebel style', Hornery hit out at Wilson for trying to 'gazump' his story by coming out before he could announce it.
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Sydney Morning Herald Editor Bevan Shields also defended his reporter in an editor's note claiming that the outlet had 'simply asked questions and as standard practice included a deadline for a response'.
"Wilson made the decision to publicly disclose her new partner - who had been a feature of her social media accounts for months," Shields said.
Fans have flooded social media with comments about their outrage over the piece.
One user wrote: "I am so beyond disgusted at this. Turns out Rebel Wilson only came out to avoid being forcefully outed and now that newspaper is p***ed at her for ruining their scoop, so they wrote this mess. I am so angry and so sorry for Rebel, no one deserves this."
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A second added: “F**king shameful by the Sydney Morning Herald. Acting like they were being generous by giving Rebel Wilson a two day deadline to come out before outing her themselves, then getting [angry] because she called their bluff against her will. Never has @smh been a more accurate username.”
Wilson broke her silence over the outing furore on Sunday (June 12) in a tweet.
The 42-year-old Aussie star replied to a tweet posted by journalist Kate Doak to thank her for her support.
“Thanks for your comments, it was a very hard situation but trying to handle it with grace,” the tweet read.
Topics: Celebrity, Rebel Wilson, LGBTQ
Rachel Lang