A Los Angeles judge has tossed most of Rebel Wilson‘s lawsuit against producers of The Deb, calling many of the allegations “conclusory without specific facts” and “abusive.”
The ruling, issued on Wednesday, didn’t give the actress a chance to fix her claims, marking a key loss for Wilson in what’s become a sprawling legal battle over the film’s release involving claims of defamation, sexual harassment and embezzlement. It follows the court greenlighting a bid by Amanda Ghost, one of the producers, to depose a public relations employee and subpoena documents related to a series of anonymous websites that accused her of sex trafficking, among other things.
“With Ms. Wilson’s claims dismissed, the case now focuses on her conduct, including serious questions about the source of smear websites deploying racist, false and abusive content to target Amanda Ghost—those issues will be pursued zealously in discovery,” said Camille Vasquez, a lawyer for the producers, in a statement.
The Deb producers Gregor Cameron, Vince Holden and Ghost in 2024 filed a defamation lawsuit against Wilson, who claimed they stole $900,000 from the film’s budget and said that Ghost sexually harassed the film’s lead actress, Charlotte MacInnes. Counterclaims from Wilson, multiple public statements from MacInnes denying allegations that she was harassed and a lawsuit from the film’s production company alleging that the Pitch Perfect star blocked a distribution deal followed. The crux of Wilson’s complaint revolved around allegations that Ghost made certain promises to Wilson in order to secure her commitment to partner with production companies AI Film and Unigram on the movie, including a shared writing credit, a record label deal with Warner, the ability to sign young Australian artists to the label and ownership of rights to the soundtrack.
But Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Thomas Long dismissed the fraud claims, finding that Wilson failed to allege enough details about “how, when, where, and by what means the representations were made.”
During a hearing on Tuesday, lawyers for Wilson asked for another opportunity to amend their complaint, insisting they could specify the 2022 meetings in which the two sides allegedly entered into the oral contract. Thomas pushed back, saying that they were only advancing generic allegations and failing to identify specific facts required to indicate what they characterized as Ghost’s intent to deceive Wilson.
Wilson’s lawyers didn’t sufficiently explain any of their proposed amendments, the court stressed. “Instead, they provide only vague and conclusory assurances,” the ruling stated.
In total, Thomas dismissed six of Wilson’s claims, including for breach of fiduciary duty and breach of contract. It concluded that Ghost, who still faces a claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress, wasn’t a party to the oral agreement between Wilson, AI Film and Unigram.
Another battleground in the lawsuit was allegations in the complaint listing Ghost’s “extensive history of seedy practices and unethical behavior,” her “highly inappropriate relationship” with MacInnes and Cameron’s propensity for “physical intimidation and coercive tactics.” The producers moved to strike those portions of the lawsuit from consideration, though Wilson said they were relevant to her fraud claims.
The court disagreed with the actress, saying they involve events unrelated to the case, which mostly concerns alleged misrepresentations regarding the coproduction deal.
The dismissal leaves Wilson with little offensive firepower against the producers. In September, discovery in the legal battle over It Ends With Us unearthed communications laying the groundwork for additional claims against Wilson from Ghost, who claimed that the actress was behind a series of anonymous websites that accused her sex trafficking. Ghost said Wilson directed Melissa Nathan, Justin Baldoni’s crisis publicist, to send a dossier of false information about her, with the intent of setting up the websites. Nathan wrote in a text to another publicist at her agency, per the lawsuit: “So basically Rebel wants a one of those sites… Should be a mixture of that document that I think Carolina pulled about Amanda or the intern pulled… It can be really really harsh… Russian oligarchs and making her a madam basically lol.”
By allegedly blocking a distribution deal for The Deb, Wilson pitted herself against billionaire Len Blavatnik, an investor in Ghost’s Unigram who owns most of Warner Music Group.
In October, Rialto Distribution acquired the rights for The Deb in Australia and New Zealand.
