Abbie Chatfield savages Rebel Wilson’s ‘outing’ on-air

Abbie Chatfield read the now-deleted Rebel Wilson ‘outing’ article on-air last night, furiously listing her problems with it line by line.

Reality star and podcaster Abbie Chatfield slammed the Sydney Morning Herald’s “really disappointing” coverage of actress Rebel Wilson’s new same-sex relationship.

The SMH has been hit with a wave of backlash in recent days after Wilson last Friday revealed via her Instagram account that she’s in a relationship with LA fashion designer Ramona Agruma.

The next day, the SMH published a piece by gossip columnist Andrew Hornery who revealed that he had the inside scoop on the new relationship, and had contacted Wilson’s team asking her to confirm the news within 48 hours. He said giving her a heads up before outing her had been a “big mistake” because it allowed Wilson the time to out herself.

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Abbie Chatfield has spoken out about the SMH’s Rebel Wilson controversy.

The backlash to the column was immediate, and at first the paper refused to back down, with SMH editor Bevan Shields penning a note to readers on Sunday standing by the column and explaining that it was “not a standard news story”.

But by Monday, the SMH had changed its position, with the column scrubbed from the internet, and both Shields and Hornery conceding they “made mistakes” and “mishandled their approach” to the story, while stopping short of a full apology.

Speaking on her Hot Nights With Abbie Chatfield radio show last night, the former Bachelor contestant – and soon-to-be Masked Singer judge – detailed her problems with the since-deleted column, line by line.

Chatfield started by congratulating Wilson on her new relationship.

“I don’t know if she is pan, bi, a lesbian or whatever, but: Queer Queen. Amazing.”

But she called the SMH’s coverage “really disappointing” before paraphrasing Hornery’s complaint that Wilson “had decided to quote-unquote ‘gazump’ the story, and ruin our chances of getting attention and clicks”.

“Oh, you poor things.”

Wilson (R) and girlfriend Ramona Agruma at the Vanity Fair Oscars party in March, before their relationship was made public. Picture: Arturo Holmes/FilmMagic

Chatfield took particular issue with one sentence complaining that Wilson had ruined the SMH’s story by posting about her relationship on Instagram – “the same platform she had used to boast about her handsome ex-boyfriend”.

“What does that have to do with ANYTHING? Are you implying she isn’t gay? Are you implying she was never in love with her ex-boyfriend? What is the implication there? What do you mean? What. Do. You. Mean?” she asked.

“Rebel was basically being forced to come out, so she went, ‘I’ll just post about it then, to have control of my narrative and come out on my own terms.’”

And Chatfield said she would have done the same thing if she was in Rebel’s shoes, explaining that she used her own social media channels to keep the public updated on her personal life before media outlets could beat her to the punch.

Chatfield applauded Wilson for using social media to take back her own story.

“I don’t know if Rebel did this maliciously, but I wouldn’t be surprised if she was like, ‘You know what, screw this, if they’re going to out me, I’m going to do it myself and I am going to ruin their story,’” she said.

“She would be constantly having to make PR moves about all different things in her life, and this is something she really shouldn’t have to deal with in this way.”

Ultimately, Chatfield said there was a simple lesson to be learned from the whole saga: “Don’t out people.”

Chatfield is one of a number of high-profile Aussies to have spoken out in Rebel’s defence in recent days – among them actress and comedian Magda Szubanski, who came out publicly in 2012 and tweeted on Sunday: “Everyone EVERYONE has the right to decide when/whether to come out. In their own time. On their own terms.”