Rebel Wilson unlikely to wriggle free from defamation suit filed by film producers

LOS ANGELES (CN) — Australian actress Rebel Wilson on Thursday asked a judge to throw out a defamation lawsuit filed against her by producers of a film she directed, making her case on First Amendment grounds.

Superior Court Judge Thomas Long didn’t issue a ruling but indicated in a tentative order that he would likely deny the request.

Wilson, 44, who gained fame for her role in the “Pitch Perfect” movie series, directed her first film, a musical titled “The Deb,” in 2023. Three producers of the film — singer/songwriter Amanda Ghost, her husband Gregor Cameron and executive producer Vince Holden — sued Wilson for defamation in July, months ahead of its premiere at the Toronto Film Festival.

They accused the actress of being a “bully” who tried to gain a screenwriter credit on the movie, and when she didn’t get her way, falsely accused Ghost of sexually harassing an actress on set, and all three producers of embezzlement.

“She created out of whole cloth a false and malicious tale regarding an innocent interaction between Ms. Ghost and a lead actress on set,” the plaintiffs say in the most recent version of their complaint, filed in LA Superior Court. “Rebel’s outrageous lies did not stop there. Determined to destroy Plaintiffs’ reputations, she also falsely accused Plaintiffs of embezzling funds from the Film’s budget without even an iota of evidence to support such claims.”

Shortly before the suit was filed, Wilson posted a video on Instagram in which she told her 11 million followers that the producers — whom she called “fuckwits” — were trying to block the film’s premiere in Toronto. She also accused them of “inappropriate behavior towards the lead actress of the film [and] embezzling funds from the film’s budget,” behavior she called “vile and disgusting.”

Charlotte MacInnes, the lead actress in “The Deb,” has denied any misconduct on the part of Ghost and said in a court filing that she was “deeply disturbed” by Wilson’s accusations.

Two days after the original lawsuit was filed, Wilson’s lawyers sent a letter to the plaintiffs’ lawyers seeking some sort of compromise on the writing credits. The letter repeated Wilson’s accusations, with the added detail that Wilson and Cameron embezzled 900,000 Australian dollars from the film.

The letter was later leaked to the media, and the accusations became the subject of a number of news articles.

In October, Wilson countersued the three producers, writing, “Their involvement in the film was marked by a troubling pattern of egregious and illicit behaviors, including theft, bullying, and sexual misconduct.” The suit takes a number of shots at Ghost, who is credited with co-writing the wildly popular James Blunt song “You’re Beautiful.”

“Ghost lied about her contributions and bombastically claimed an ownership percentage to it of which she was wholly undeserving,” Wilson says in her cross-complaint. “Although she stole partial ownership of the song at Blunt’ s expense, she would later use her association with the song as the platform to set up the rest of her career.”

Wilson also filed an anti-SLAPP motion, a legal maneuver used to quickly dismiss a lawsuit aimed at chilling free speech or public participation.

On Thursday, Wilson’s attorney, Jean-Paul Jassy, a partner at Jassy Vick Carolan, argued that the two public statements Wilson is being sued over, the Instagram post and the leaked demand letter, were matters of free speech because she was speaking out about issues in the public interest — namely, the release of a film at a prestigious film festival, and sexual harassment in the entertainment industry.

Judge Long expressed skepticism at that notion.

“The ‘public interests’ of ‘inappropriate behavior, including sexual harassment, on movie sets,’ ’embezzlement from film budgets,’ and ’tax fraud’ are broad and amorphous public interests that are not closely related to the challenged statements,” Long wrote in his tentative order. “They were not made during Wilson’s participation in matters of public interest.  Instead, they were made in the context of Wilson’s private business dispute with plaintiffs surrounding the production and premiere of the Film.”

The judge added that while the creation of the demand letter was protected activity, the transmission of it to a member of the press wasn’t.

“Ms. Wilson denies having leaked the letter to media,” Jassy told the judge during the hearing. But, he pointed out, “by that time there was already a public dispute going on about these underlying issues.”

“What you’re saying is, if a lawsuit is filed, if it’s an interesting lawsuit, it’s morphed into a matter of public interest?” Judge Long asked.

“I don’t think you need to have a general rule,” Jassy responded. “It’s clear the media was interested in this dispute.”

Plaintiff attorney Samuel Moniz of Brown Rudnick disagreed. “Frankly this letter was a stew of defamatory comments,” Moniz argued. “Leaking to the press is not protected activity.”

As to the Instagram video, Moniz said, “She was using a social media platform as a vehicle to attack private individuals.”

Long took the matter under submission and said he would likely issue his ruling sometime in the next five days.

“The Deb” did premiere at the Toronto Film Festival in September, and received mixed reviews. It is unlikely to be released to the general public before the lawsuit is resolved.

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