Rebel Wilson has responded to today’s news that Bauer Media is planning to appeal the the court decision ordering it to pay $4.5 million in damages for defamatory reporting.
Back in early September Rebel was awarded the amount after a jury found earlier this year that a series of eight articles featured in Woman’s Day, Woman’s Weekly, OK Magazine and New Weekly that painted Wilson a serial liar were defamatory.
But today Bauer announced it will that it “will be appealing the quantum of damages in the recent defamation judgement”, putting a halt on Rebel’s plans to spend the money in beneficial ways to the community. Their statement in part read:
It’s important for us to revisit this unprecedented decision on the quantum of damages, which also has broad implications for the media industry.
Am not surprised that Bauer has decided to appeal the damages amount in my recent defamation case considering their disgusting history.
— Rebel Wilson (@RebelWilson) October 9, 2017
I am disappointed that this now delays my plans to support Australian charities and Australians in the entertainment industry.
— Rebel Wilson (@RebelWilson) October 9, 2017
Rebel also opened up on her hope that an appeal will only further expose the alleged shitty practices of Bauer, and also decried them for hiring a PR agency in an attempt to put a positive spin on today’s news:
Nevertheless if this is a chance to expose more of their disgraceful practices & present more evidence on damages, I welcome it ❤️
— Rebel Wilson (@RebelWilson) October 9, 2017
Thank you so much to the past and present employees of this media organization who have come forward with helpful information.
— Rebel Wilson (@RebelWilson) October 9, 2017
BTW Bauer has hired a PR firm Thrive PR to get people to say positive things about their appeal today. All orchestrated, total rubbish x
— Rebel Wilson (@RebelWilson) October 9, 2017
We’ll keep you up to date with when and how the appeal process goes down.
