Happy Pride Month, everyone! Except to that gossip columnist that wanted to “out” Rebel Wilson.
ICYMI: On June 10, 2022, Rebel Wilson proudly came out to the world on Instagram with a picture of her and her girlfriend, LA leisure wear designer Ramona Agruma. Wilson captioned her post saying, “I thought I was searching for a Disney Prince…but maybe what I really needed all this time was a Disney Princess,” while referring to Agruma.
The world congratulated Rebel Wilson and Ramon Agruma for proudly coming out, sending out messages of support and love for the couple. However, this news was ruined just hours after due to Sydney Morning Herald gossip columnist Andrew Hornery (note: also a gay man) publishing his own column where he accused Wilson of “gazumping” or stealing his supposed story by going public with her relationship.
In his now-deleted column, Hornery said that he had told Rebel Wilson’s camp about his plans of publishing the story beforehand and said that they had “two days to comment” on it. When they didn’t and Rebel Wilson went on to post her picture on Instagram, Hornery called it a “big mistake.”
His column received a multitude of backlash and criticism online, with almost everyone saying how “disgusting” it was for Wilson to be treated this way, and that nobody deserves to be “forcefully outed” in a way that Hornery had intended. And this happened during Pride Month? The audacity.
The Sydney Morning Herald admit they planned on outing Rebel Wilson in a new piece.
The publication claims they gave Wilson two days to comment on her relationship with LA leisure wear designer Ramona Agruma before going public with the information. pic.twitter.com/jFcCYSFoEL
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) June 11, 2022
i am so beyond disgusted at this. turns out rebel wilson only came out to avoid being forcefully outed and now that newspaper is pissed at her for ruining their scoop?? so they wrote this mess?? i am so angry and so sorry for rebel, no one deserves this. pic.twitter.com/PTnTqzr9VI
— theresa 🫶🏻 (@sapphoslibrary) June 11, 2022
https://twitter.com/alexjosh_io/status/1536491312119422976?s=20&t=la1Y1OaLG-Meotol62gsHg
In case you were wondering how Pride Month is going, the @smh got in touch with Rebel Wilson to say they’d be outing her in the next few days, so when Rebel came out herself the journalists are throwing a tantrum that she robbed them of an exclusive.
— Dr. Bodie A. Ashton (@manwithoutatan) June 11, 2022
https://twitter.com/meghamohan/status/1535597084589670400?s=20&t=la1Y1OaLG-Meotol62gsHg
i learned over the weekend that rebel wilson came out not by choice, but because she was backed into a corner by an australian newspaper who threatened to out her and then got pissed when she did it herself. happy pride! pic.twitter.com/v39QfU2Hn7
— matt (@mattxiv) June 13, 2022
Fucking shameful by the Sydney Morning Herald. Acting like they were being generous by giving Rebel Wilson a 2-day deadline to come out before outing her themselves, then getting arsey because she called their bluff against her will. Never has @smh been a more accurate username pic.twitter.com/v2SDZHVx9s
— Chris Scullion (@scully1888) June 11, 2022
https://twitter.com/gingerandhoney/status/1535529992746156032?s=20&t=la1Y1OaLG-Meotol62gsHg
This Sydney Morning Herald note is basically “we didn’t out Rebel Wilson” but then they explain how they outed Rebel Wilson. pic.twitter.com/8wG6LvqEOF
— Scott Bryan (@scottygb) June 12, 2022
In light of the controversy that arose due to his now-deleted column, Hornery published another column where he apologized for his approach on the issue, and said that in his “trying to tell the story within the story,” the tone of his piece turned out to come off as one filled with disappointment.
The Editor of Sydney Morning Herald, Bevan Shields, wrote a statement where he “wanted to offer Herald’s view” on the issue. In the “A note on Rebel Wilson” editorial piece, Shields wrote that it was wrong to say that they “outed” Rebel Wilson and that the Herald “simply asked questions and as standard practice included a deadline for a response.”
This statement in contrast to Hornery’s, to be honest, didn’t sound like they were apologetic at all. In fact, they sounded more defensive than regretful at most.
This is a not-so-gentle reminder to everyone that coming to terms with one’s sexuality is something that is personal and should be done in one’s own time. This entire controversy just showed how one person’s sexuality, let alone a famous personality’s, is often at times commercialized and marketed as a “breaking news” story to share with the entire world.
In the essence of Pride Month, this really isn’t it. Let’s stop this culture of trying to dictate when and how people will be accepting themselves and their sexuality. Let people come out on their own time—it’s something personal and something that should be respected by everyone. It’s common courtesy and decency, no?
Their sexuality and their decision when to tell everyone and the world is definitely none of your business.
Other POP! stories you might like:
Keep your passive-aggressive ‘coming out’ comments to yourselves
Can’t be happy for someone’s transition journey? Keep it to yourself