Why Rebel Wilson is being sued by 'The Deb' producers
Rebel Wilson, the 44-year-old Hollywood actor famed for her role in Pitch Perfect, is now facing a defamation lawsuit. The suit was filed by the producers of her directorial debut, The Deb, just days after Wilson accused them of misconduct on social media. In an Instagram video posted on July 10, she claimed that producers Amanda Ghost, Gregor Cameron, and executive producer Vince Holden exhibited "bad behavior" on set and retaliated against her when she reported their actions.
Producers deny Wilson's allegations, counter with their own
In a defamation suit filed against the popular actor in the Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles, on Friday, Ghost, Cameron, and Holden denied her allegations. They refuted claims that they embezzled funds from the film's budget and behaved inappropriately toward her. The lawsuit also accused Wilson of refusing to collaborate with them, "absconding from the project for months at a time," behaving unprofessionally with employees, and making "unauthorized disclosures about the film."
Dispute over film credits and licensing leads to TIFF withdrawal
The producers stated that their decision to withdraw The Deb from the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) was due to ongoing credit and licensing disputes instigated by Wilson. The lawsuit also accuses Wilson of leveraging her popularity on social media to spread false statements 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."
Screenplay credit dispute also revealed in lawsuit
The lawsuit also reveals a dispute over screenplay credits. Wilson reportedly sought co-authorship of the screenplay as well as rights to the film's original music. However, Hannah Riley, the original screenwriter who producers referred to as Wilson's "protege," was awarded full credit by the Australian Writers Guild on The Deb following an appeal. Wilson was granted an "additional writing by" credit on the script, which she reportedly was not satisfied with.
Wilson responds to lawsuit, claims support from cast and crew
In response to the lawsuit, Wilson posted an on-set photo on Instagram with the caption, "It's not defamation if it's the TRUTH." "Let our cool movie play at Toronto and stop messing about with a rubbish defamation suit against me!" She also shared additional photos featuring various members of the cast and crew on her Instagram Stories. She added, "Ummm I've pretty sure I have 200 witnesses to prove what I'm saying is right."
