SYDNEY: Hollywood actor Rebel Wilson on Thursday won a lengthy defamation case against an Australian publisher that portrayed her as a serial liar, which she said cost her lucrative movie roles.
The 37-year-old “Pitch Perfect” star sued Bauer Media over eight articles in Woman’s Day, Australian Women’s Weekly and OK Magazine in 2015, which her defense said “tore down an Australian star to sell magazines.”
The stories claimed the Sydney-born actor lied about her name, age and background in order to advance her career in the US.
Giving evidence during the three-week trial, often in tears, Wilson claimed she was sacked from DreamWorks animated feature films “Trolls” and “Kung Fu Panda 3” following the articles.
Bauer denied they damaged her reputation and argued they were true.
But the Victorian Supreme Court ruled she was defamed in all eight of the pieces, with the judge to decide on the penalty at a later date.
“Bauer Media took me down with a series of grubby and completely false articles,” said Wilson outside the court.
“Far too often I feel the tabloid magazines and the journalists that work for them don’t abide by professional ethics.
“Far too often I can only describe their conduct as disgusting and disgraceful and I’m very glad that the jury has agreed with me. And with the unanimous and overwhelming verdict they have sent a very clear message.”
Wilson, who will now jet to New York to shoot a film with fellow Australian Liam Hemsworth, said she was grateful the drama was now over.
“It’s a win for everyone who gets maliciously taken down when there’s no reason why that should happen,” she said.
Rebel Wilson wins defamation case
Rebel Wilson wins defamation case
Arts festival’s decision to exclude Palestinian author spurs boycott
- A Macquarie University academic who researches Islamophobia and Palestine, Abdel-Fattah responded saying it was “a blatant and shameless act of anti-Palestinian racism and censorship,” with her lawyers issuing a letter to the festival
SYDENY: A top Australian arts festival has seen the withdrawal of dozens of writers in a backlash against its decision to bar an Australian Palestinian author after the Bondi Beach mass shooting, as moves to curb antisemitism spur free speech concerns.
The shooting which killed 15 people at a Jewish Hanukkah celebration at Sydney’s Bondi Beach on Dec. 14 sparked nationwide calls to tackle antisemitism. Police say the alleged gunmen were inspired by Daesh.
The Adelaide Festival board said last Thursday it would disinvite Randa Abdel-Fattah from February’s Writers Week in the state of South Australia because “it would not be culturally sensitive to continue to program her at this unprecedented time so soon after Bondi.”
FASTFACTS
• Abdel-Fattah responded, saying it was ‘a blatant and shameless act of anti-Palestinian racism and censorship.’
• Around 50 authors have since withdrawn from the festival in protest, leaving it in doubt, local media reported.
A Macquarie University academic who researches Islamophobia and Palestine, Abdel-Fattah responded saying it was “a blatant and shameless act of anti-Palestinian racism and censorship,” with her lawyers issuing a letter to the festival.
Around 50 authors have since withdrawn from the festival in protest, leaving it in doubt, local media reported.
Among the boycotting authors, Kathy Lette wrote on social media the decision to bar Abdel-Fattah “sends a divisive and plainly discriminatory message that platforming Australian Palestinians is ‘culturally insensitive.'”
The Adelaide Festival said in a statement on Monday that three board members and the chairperson had resigned. The festival’s executive director, Julian Hobba, said the arts body was “navigating a complex moment.”
a complex and unprecedented moment” after the “significant community response” to the board decision.
In the days after the Bondi Beach attack, Jewish community groups and the Israeli government criticized Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for failing to act on a rise in antisemitic attacks and criticized protest marches against Israel’s war in Gaza held since 2023.
Albanese said last week a Royal Commission will consider the events of the shooting as well as antisemitism and social cohesion in Australia. Albanese said on Monday he would recall parliament next week to pass tougher hate speech laws.
On Monday, New South Wales state premier Chris Minns announced new rules that would allow local councils to cut off power and water to illegally operating prayer halls.
Minns said the new rules were prompted by the difficulty in closing a prayer hall in Sydney linked to a cleric found by a court to have made statements intimidating Jewish Australians.
The mayor of the western Sydney suburb of Fairfield said the rules were ill-considered and councils should not be responsible for determining hate speech.
“Freedom of speech is something that should always be allowed, as long as it is done in a peaceful way,” Mayor Frank Carbone told Reuters.
