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Rebel Wilson being sued by three producers in LA court over new movie The Deb

Australian actor Rebel Wilson is being sued for defamation after accusing three producers of her upcoming movie ‘The Deb’ of sexual harassment and embezzlement.

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Australian actor Rebel Wilson is being sued for defamation after accusing three producers of her upcoming movie ‘The Deb’ of sexual harassment and embezzlement.

In a scathing post on Instagram, Wilson, accused producers Amanda Ghost, Gregor Cameron and Vince Holden of “inappropriate behaviour”, claiming they acted with “absolute viciousness”.

“To have the joy of the movie being selected is one thing, but then to have the business partners turn around and say that, no the movie can’t premiere is beyond devastating,” Wilson said in the post.

Wilson, 44, went on to allege the producers had embezzled funds, which they have since denied, claiming Wilson has created a “false narrative about them.”

The three producers have denied all allegations made by Wilson and filed a new lawsuit at the Superior Court of California in Los Angeles.

She had previously alleged they blocked the film from premiering at the prestigious Toronto International Film Festival.

Wilson co-wrote and directed the musical, which she claims was selected as the closing night film for TIFF 2024.

According to court documents obtained by PEOPLE magazine the lawsuit claims: “She flatly refused to collaborate with Plaintiffs, absconded from the film for months at a time, behaved unprofessionally with employees of the film, and repeatedly made unauthorised and improper disclosures about the film.

Australian actress Rebel Wilson, lashed out of the producers of her directorial debut, alleging that they are blocking the film from premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival. Picture: Instagram
Australian actress Rebel Wilson, lashed out of the producers of her directorial debut, alleging that they are blocking the film from premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival. Picture: Instagram

“Rebel’s goal in these several disputes was to get credit for work she did not do, and to overshadow young, upcoming artists who truly deserved the credit.

“[We] had to consider carefully whether to proceed with marketing the film while it was embroiled in numerous credit and licensing disputes instigated by Rebel. [We]continuously attempted to resolve the disputes in good faith but Rebel had other ideas.

“Even though the plan was always to show the film at TIFF, Rebel attempted to force the issue and bully them into capitulating to her other unreasonable demands by leveraging her popularity on social media to spread these malicious and baseless lies about [the producers] to her 11 million Instagram followers. This was a vindictive attempt to destroy [the producers’] reputations with what she knew were demonstrably false statements.”

Wilson responded to the lawsuit on Instagram by posting: “It’s not defamation if it’s the TRUTH (those ‘producers’ who I mentioned in my last post have just filed a defamation suit against me and sent to the press)! Let our cool movie play at Toronto and stop messing about with a rubbish defamation suit against me!”

Rebel Wilson, at Wimbledon last week, has lashed out. Picture: Getty Images
Rebel Wilson, at Wimbledon last week, has lashed out. Picture: Getty Images

“RW’s allegations are false, defamatory, and disappointing,” a spokesperson for the producers told Deadline.

“Her self-promotional claims are clearly intended to cause reputational harm to the individuals who have supported her directorial debut film The Deb – a joyous movie that we’re very proud of and are looking forward to sharing with audiences.”

Starring Wilson, Tara Morice and Shane Jacobson, The Deb tells the story of two teenage girls attending a debutante ball in a small Aussie country town.

Wilson, who starred in Fat Pizza before getting her big Hollywood break in the movie Wedding Crashers, grew up in Sydney.

The star has been embroiled in controversy since the publication of memoir Rebel Rising, which contained allegations about actor Sacha Baron Cohen, which he has denied.

Lines were redacted and the chapter was removed when the book was published in Australia.

Originally published as Rebel Wilson being sued by three producers in LA court over new movie The Deb

Original URL: https://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/news/national/viciousness-rebel-wilson-lashes-out-over-new-movie/news-story/b68f3a03f434658789daca0094e58e76