Rebel Wilson’s defamation battle with actress Charlotte MacInnes over The Deb deepens: Federal Court update
Movie star Rebel Wilson is set to tell a Sydney court Instagram stories she posted about actress Charlotte MacInnes allegedly being sexually harassed are substantially true and were made in response to claims about the hit Hollywood movie star herself, Sydney’s Federal Court heard on Friday morning.
MacInnes is suing Wilson for defamation, claiming serious and personal professional damage, distress, and hurt from Instagram posts Wilson made about her, regarding interactions with Amanda Ghost, a producer of the yet-to-be-released movie The Deb.
In a pre-trial hearing on Friday, Justice Elizabeth Raper said she was still unable to set a date for the trial that is set to include allegations of improper behaviour during a bath time interaction between McInnes and Ms Ghost at a Bondi Beach penthouse apartment.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.“The subject matter of the [Instagram] publications are that my client, Ms MacIness, made an allegation of being sexually harassed and then withdrew it for her own commercial benefit,” Sue Chrysanthou SC told the court.
Ms Chrysanthou went on to tell the court that Wilson has 11 million followers on Instagram, to means it should be found at trial that distribution of the allegations was sufficiently wide to meet the legal concept of extensive publication.
The high-profile barrister also argued as MacInnes grew up in Western Australia, it may be open to her legal team to not prove that the 26-year-old actress suffered “serious harm” as a result of the allegations, as this is not a requirement under West Australian law, unlike other states.
Movie barney
The lawsuit pits an actress in her mid-20s with one television credit and an unreleased movie against one of the best-known Australian actresses in the world, who has appeared in 39 movies dating back to Fat Pizza in 2003.
The Deb is a musical comedy set around a debutante ball in a country town and is the first film directed by Wilson. The movie filmed in Sydney and country New South Wales was shown at last year’s Toronto Film Festival, but hasn’t been seen by the public since.
In court on Friday, Renee Embom, KC, for Wilson, rejected claims that the famous actress had continued to make public allegations about MacInnes over the last year and since the legal proceedings had been filed.
“I don’t accept that my client is finding time to continue to attack Ms MacInnes publicly, there’s no evidence of that it’s just something from the bar table,” said Ms Embom.
“I didn’t give evidence from the bar table,” Ms Chrysanthou later fired back in response. “I took your honour to the pleaded fact in the reply that Miss Wilson continues to make public statements about my client.”
Ms Chrysanthou also complained to Justice Raper that it should not stand that Wilson was too busy or needed more time to make required representations to the court before a trial date could be set.
Ms Embom told the court that Wilson would need considerable time to make further representations as she’s overseas working on a separate movie.
“But you’d accept though that the majority of litigants in this matter have jobs,” said Justice Raper to Ms Embom. “I do.” replied Ms Emob. “But it’s not a job she can just get permission to leave for a day, plus she’s on the other side of the world.”
Justice Raper order both legal teams to have further representations required for the trial by February 27.
