The fall-out from Andrew Hornery’s Rebel Wilson article is continuing with everyone from Whoopi Goldberg to anonymous Sydney Morning Herald staffers weighing in.
Hornery’s weekly gossip article went viral last week because he said that he had been “gazumped” by Wilson because instead of answering his questions about her relationship status, she instead chose to announce that she was in a relationship with a woman via her social media.
Basically, Hornery didn’t get to break the news about someone else’s sexuality and he penned an article about it. However, Hornery’s article drew mass criticism, with people accusing Hornery of trying to “out” Wilson. So much so, that the original article was pulled; Hornery then wrote an article clarifying he didn’t mean to threaten Wilson with an ‘outing,”
Apparently @RebelWilson was forced out of the closet by @AndrewHornery an unprofessional journalist at the Sydney Morning Herald, and he had the nerve to complain that she “gazump[ed] the story” with her coming out tweet. https://t.co/3xK17ADUEL
— LGBTQ Political History (@HisLgbt) June 11, 2022
Hornery wrote, “The last thing I would ever want to do is inflict that pain on someone else.
“Writing a weekly column about the personal lives of the rich, powerful and famous comes with its own unique set of challenges. A celebrity romance is a happy story.”
The outcry was so large that even the Editor of SMH, Bevan Shields weighed in on the saga and pushed back against accusations that the paper would have, “outed” Wilson; he wrote: “To say that the Herald “outed” Wilson is wrong.
“Like other mastheads do every day, we simply asked questions and, as standard practice, included a deadline for a response. 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.”
However, Hornery and Shield’s apology hasn’t done much to kill the story. The whole thing has turned into a PR nightmare for Sydney Morning Herald.
American Talk Show The View discussed the saga during their Hot Topics, and Whoopi Goldberg criticised the way the story was handled, “If it wasn’t your intention, you wouldn’t have done it!” Goldberg said.
I was outed against my will in high school. I became depressed, suicidal, and disassociated from friends and family. @RebelWilson deserved better. We all do.
The women of @TheView rightly condemn the @smh, the author, editor, and the hollow apology that followed. pic.twitter.com/0Q63RtQ909
— Alexander J Richardson (@alexjosh_io) June 13, 2022
The Guardian has also reported that an anonymous staff member at SMH sent an email criticising the handling of the Rebel Wilson saga that read: “Our reputation is trashed!” and referred to the masthead becoming a, “laughing stock!”
The Australian also reported that Hornery wrote on his private Instagram, “Friends and family apologies for the incessant trolling on my feed these past few days … the pitchfork brigade is baying for blood — can’t really be bothered deleting them all as it would take me days!”
Meanwhile, Twitter is still commenting on the story and is now drudging up previous work from Hornery.
Remembering the time Andrew Hornery said Carla Zampatti was “not keen to discuss her fall” when she was in a coma, and “on the mend” the day she died. https://t.co/8bOVh5lhEf pic.twitter.com/zECA1xPm9c
— Rachel Withers (@rachelrwithers) June 14, 2022
Andrew Hornery has form.
He outed a sex worker in 2016
And in 2005 he was the one who incited sexist criticism of Julia Gillard because of her kitchen.
He’s obviously very old, yet he still peddles immature, misogynistic bullshit
What a sad, pathetic man.#ThisIsNotJournalism pic.twitter.com/HFWZLutztK
— Random Selector (@RandomSelector) June 12, 2022
“What went wrong” with the Rebel Wilson story started at the point the SMH was sold and then hired an incompetent lightweight to be its editor as it threw journalistic standards out the window and headed straight to the muck at the bottom of the barrel. https://t.co/EnetYBpB6Y
— Aughra says you must be gelfling (@audienceofone5) June 15, 2022
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
It will be interesting to see if this story begins to fade away or if more will come from it.
