Last Friday, Wilson posted a photo of her and her partner, Ramona Agruma, saying, “I thought I was searching for a Disney Prince … but maybe what I really needed all this time was a Disney Princess #loveislove.”
The next day, the Australian newspaper The Sydney Morning Herald wrote that they knew about the relationship before Wilson had come out and had given her a day and a half to comment on it. This annoyed many people, especially from the LGBTQ+ community, who said it was unacceptable to pressure people to come out. But those at the paper defended themselves, saying they were just asking questions and wouldn’t have necessarily even run the story.
But days passed, and the anger continued to boil. With that, the column was taken down, and the journalist, Andrew Hornery, has apologized, saying, “we mishandled steps in our approach.” An editor at the paper, Bevan Shields, also issued an editor’s note, saying that part of an editorial team’s daily responsibilities included “simply [asking] questions and as standard practice included a deadline for a response.” Many didn’t appreciate this, saying it’s none of their business.
Key comments:
“What The Sydney Morning Herald failed to do is recognize their own straight privilege of living in a very heteronormative world. Heteronormativity means that we assume everyone is straight unless proven otherwise,” explained Anne-Marie Zanzal, who works with people coming out later in life to the LGBTQ+ community.
“They took away Rebel Wilson’s opportunity to tell her own story with the world. It can never be undone. Sharing who someone is dating is very different when someone is straight versus someone who may be newly exploring their sexual orientation. Writing about this as if all is equal between straight and LGBTQ people is naive at best, and vindictive at its worst. It often has very real world implications on our personal and business relationships. Because Rebel is famous, it also may alter public perception and her earning power. What they did was wrong, and Rebel deserves a better apology.”
