Project host Hamish Macdonald weighs in on Rebel Wilson column controversy

The Project’s Hamish Macdonald has weighed in on the Rebel Wilson backlash, revealing he faced a very similar situation behind the scenes.

The Project host Hamish Macdonald has weighed in on the backlash facing the Sydney Morning Herald over its Rebel Wilson article, revealing he had found himself in the same position as the Pitch Perfect star throughout his career.

The Australian publication caused international outrage after gossip columnist Andrew Hornery penned an article on Saturday in which he revealed he was already privy to Wilson’s new same-sex relationship and had intended to write about it for the paper.

But, he said, he made the “big mistake” of emailing her team asking Wilson to confirm her romance with Ramona Agruma, giving her a 48-hour window to respond, which he today explained was usual practice of a weekend publication – not a “threat”.

Rebel then announced the news herself on Instagram last week, which Hornery took as the star “opting to gazump” his publication’s scoop.

Addressing the scandal on The Project on Monday night, Macdonald – who publicly confirmed he was in a relationship with a man in 2019 – admitted that the scrutiny over his sexuality was “terrifying”.

“For people coming to terms with their sexuality, that may be something they wake up and realise some day, it may be something that’s a very long journey … and I don’t think it’s for anyone else to determine the point at which they talk about that,” he told the panel.

“I’ve been at the end of this sort of thing with a couple of journalists before, and it’s scary and intimidating and frankly terrifying when a journalist starts saying to you that they know this about you, and want to put it in print.”

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Hamish Macdonald weighed in on the controversy. Picture: Ten

Gossip columnist Andrew Hornery. Picture: Chris McKeen

Macdonald, 41, finished up by describing the furore as something “we can all learn from”.

“Particularly when it comes to people thinking about, learning about and understanding their own identity … it’s a story for them to tell in a circumstance of their choosing,” he said, before addressing Wilson directly.

“And to Rebel – good on you, really happy.”

His comments came just hours after Hornery apologised for the “tone” of his controversial Wilson article over the weekend, asserting that providing a “deadline” for Wilson to comment on her new relationship was not intended to pressure her into coming out.

After intense global backlash against both Hornery and SMH editor Bevan Shields, who neglected to apologise to Wilson while addressing the saga, Hornery wrote: “On the weekend I wrote about the background leading to Rebel Wilson’s social media post revealing her new relationship with another woman. I have learned some new and difficult lessons from this and want to be upfront with you about the things I got wrong.”

He continued: “I genuinely regret that Rebel has found this hard. That was never my intention. But I see she has handled it all with extraordinary grace. As a gay man I’m well aware of how deeply discrimination hurts. The last thing I would ever want to do is inflict that pain on someone else.”

The senior reporter outlined that his email was not sent as a means of threatening the star into coming out to the public, adding that he was “sufficiently confident” with his information to “open a conversation” about her relationship.

He concluded that in his capacity as a gossip columnist, his subsequent op-ed was merely trying to “tell the story within the story” by explaining that the paper was already aware of Wilson’s relationship, but was beaten to the punch by the star herself, suggesting his email prompted her social media post.

His eventual apology was prefaced with the explanation that reporters “still have to ask difficult questions”, pointing out that “it would be much worse” to write about celebrities without approaching them to comment.

“But we need to make it clear that a deadline is not an ultimatum,” he added of what he’s learned from the saga.

Admitting that his “tone” in the column had echoed his disappointment that he wasn’t able to break the news first, he said he “got it wrong”.

“That was not fair and I apologise,” he said.

The original article has now been taken down from the SMH website.

Originally published as Project host Hamish Macdonald weighs in on Rebel Wilson column controversy