SMH columnist Andrew Hornery says he was attacked by ‘pitchfork brigade’ over Rebel Wilson article

Andrew Hornery attacks social media ‘nutters’ amid fallout over his column on Rebel Wilson’s relationship with a female designer.

SMH columnist Andrew Hornery. Picture: Instagram / @andrewhornery

Sydney Morning Herald columnist Andrew Hornery has taken aim at the online “pitchfork brigade” for trolling him in the wake of his controversial weekend column about actor Rebel Wilson’s new relationship with a female designer.

Andrew Hornery’s Instagram post

Less than 24 hours after penning an extensive apology on the Nine Entertainment-owned masthead’s website — which was also published in Tuesday’s printed edition of the SMH — Hornery wrote on his private Instagram account on Tuesday morning: “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!

“Don’t take any notice of them, it’s toxic vitriol and nutters barking at shadows, demanding to be heard.

“Thankfully I’ve had little phone reception over the weekend — timed that well.

“Know that I’m OK, and I truly appreciate the support a few brave souls have dared to show in the face of the onslaught. Xx.”

Hornery, and the SMH’s editor Bevan Shields, were accused of threatening to “out” Wilson, and her relationship with LA-based designer Ramona Agruma, before the actor had gone public with details of her same-sex relationship.

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 tone of Hornery’s social media post on Tuesday morning was in stark contrast to his published apology on the SMH website on Monday afternoon, in which the gossip columnist expressed deep regret for his “mishandling” of his article about Wilson.

Hornery said in Monday’s piece that his email to Wilson — in which he gave her a “deadline” to respond to his questions about “her new relationship” — was “never intended to be a threat”.

“It is not the Herald’s business to “out” people and that is not what we set out to do. But I understand why my email has been seen as a threat. The framing of it was a mistake.

“In trying to tell the story within the story, which is what (gossip column) Private Sydney does, the tone of my column on Saturday was also off. I got it wrong. I allowed my disappointment to cast a shadow over the piece. That was not fair and I apologise.”

Actor Rebel Wilson. Picture: AFP

Meanwhile, Shields, has gone on to the paper’s internal messaging service offering to “clear my diary’’ to meet any disaffected SMH journalist, as the newspaper goes into full damage control mode to address its response to the Wilson article.

In a message to staff on the Nine papers’ internal Slack channel late on Monday, Shields also addressed an inflammatory anonymous note sent to the work email addresses of most of the SMH newsroom in the day, where it was claimed “our reputation is trashed” by the controversy.

Shields told all staff in a note shortly before 5pm on Monday that he would meet them “morning or night” to address their concerns: “I am in the office all week and will clear my diary for anyone who wants to meet in-person or over the phone to discuss any concerns. I can meet in the office or outside it. I can talk to you morning or night. Please don’t hesitate to make contact.”

His message appeared to be written in response to the anonymous note that was rapidly circulated around the Nine papers on Monday and Tuesday, and took the guise of having been authored by a Herald staffer: “Here we are again. Our newsroom has become the story. In March, with the ‘strike’ fiasco, we were a national laughing-stock – but now we’ve attracted international attention.”

The anonymous note – a copy of which has been sent to The Australian – went on to blame Herald management, and not the celebrity columnist who wrote the Wilson piece, Andrew Hornery: “I note that Andrew Hornery has acknowledged his error, and this email isn’t about him. It’s about the next disastrous decision we’re going to have to bear,” it stated.

In his Monday afternoon internal message to staff, Shields responded: “I have obviously seen the anonymous note sent this afternoon. There has also been public reaction to Andrew Hornery’s Private Sydney column on Saturday, and his earlier request to Wilson for comment.

“I want to be clear about what happened. Andrew told me during the week he planned to approach Wilson to see whether she would comment about her new relationship. I agreed this was an appropriate thing to do given Wilson’s partner had featured prominently with her on Instagram, and given Wilson had recently revealed she was in a new relationship and happy. Asking questions is reasonable and part of our job.”

SMH editor Bevan Shields. Picture: Alex Ellinghausen

Shields made it clear in his staff message that there was no firm decision made to publish before Wilson’s announcement on Instagram. “I had made no decision to publish anything and expected to make a call on Friday about whether to proceed with a story or not, based on whether Andrew heard from Wilson,” he wrote.

“If she had not responded, it would have been impossible to publish. This is a key point. I am acutely aware of the dark stain on the Herald’s history via the publication of the names, addresses and occupations of dozens of people who marched in the 1978 Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.”

Shields nonetheless went on to make a personal apology for his part in the story. “Mistakes were made in our approach to Wilson and I apologise for them. As Andrew writes here today, the inclusion of a deadline was an error as it appeared to be an ultimatum. Andrew also acknowledges the tone of Saturday’s piece was not appropriate, and I asked for it to be removed from online today. I appreciate Andrew being upfront about this.”

Hornery’s weekend column, and Shields’ subsequent defence of it, also drew the ire of actor Whoopi Goldberg on US chat show The View, which attracts a global audience of millions.

On Monday’s show, Goldberg said: “There’s a lot of speculation that (Wilson publicly revealed her same-sex relationship on Friday morning) … to get ahead of a tabloid story in the Sydney Morning Herald. Now, the man who wrote it even apologised, saying it was ‘never his intention to out her’.

“Well, you know that’s not true, because if it wasn’t your intention you wouldn’t have done it,” Goldberg told the rest of the show’s panellists. “If you didn’t want to do it, you shouldn’t have done it – you knew exactly what you were doing.”