Rebel Wilson has filed a motion to strike the “meritless” defamation claims from “The Deb” producers.
The actress/director’s legal documents were filed in Los Angeles on Monday and deny that she published “allegedly defamatory matter,” as suggested by Amanda Ghost, Gregor Cameron and Vince Holden. The filing also stated that the plaintiffs have not been able to prove that anything Wilson has said of the trio is “not substantially true.”
“This motion was filed to ensure that Rebel can use her voice for what she has always done which is advocate for herself and others,” her attorney Bryan Freedman said in a statement.
“The Deb” served as Wilson’s first time in the director’s chair. However, that “dream project turned into a nightmare when she discovered that plaintiffs were, among other egregious conduct, embezzling money from ‘The Deb’s’ budget and treating the film’s lead actress inappropriately,” her motion read.
After Wilson voiced her concerns for star Charlotte MacInnes, the documents noted, Ghost, Cameron and Holden “threatened to prevent the film from appearing at a coveted film festival. Devastated and exasperated by this retaliation, Wilson posted a video on Instagram using coarse and hyperbolic language matching the frustration she felt that the film she and hundreds of cast and crew had worked so hard to make was being held hostage and undermined by the malfeasant Plaintiffs.”
The producers in turn “raced” to file a lawsuit against Wilson — a suit her court documents describe as “meritless.” She further added “that they quickly amended” their lawsuit “based on the false premise that Wilson went to the media with more details of the dirty truth about Plaintiffs’ behavior.”
The trio filed their lawsuit against Wilson in July after Wilson posted an Instagram video claiming they embezzled funds and were sabotaging the film. “Why are they stopping it from premiering at Toronto?” the actress asked in the video (the film did end up closing TIFF).
“Well, this dates back to October of last year, where I discovered bad behavior by these business partners. And let me just, you know, I just tell it how it is, so I’m just going to tell you who they are. They are so-called ‘producers’ of the film — I use that phrase very lightly,” Wilson continued. “And so I said — reported, I guess you would say — their bad behavior when I found out not minor things, big things — you know, inappropriate behavior towards the lead actress of the film, embezzling funds from the film’s budget — which we really needed because we’re a small movie, you know? So kind of really important things.”
Wilson filed her own countersuit on Oct. 3 and accused the producers of “theft, bullying and sexual misconduct.” The filing also stated that when Wilson attempted to report these “despicable” actions, the trio “resorted” to “the Amanda Ghost strategy: Intimidation and bullying to silence her and evade accountability.”
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