Trending Now: Rebel Wilson’s PR team allegedly plotted smear campaign against producer – Fans React

The year-long drama surrounding Rebel Wilson’s directorial debut The Deb has encountered a new allegation onto the seemingly growing legal pile.

An audio recording obtained by The Hollywood Reporter and recounted by Amanda Ghost’s attorney as part of a newly released deposition transcript, allegedly reveal members of Wilson’s crisis PR team appearing to discuss plans for a smear campaign against Ghost, whom the actress previously named as a producer of her stalled film.

According to the outlet, the recording captures a conversation involving Jed Wallace — who owns a crisis public relations firm — who seems to outline strategies to spread damaging allegations about Ghost online. The discussion includes creating anonymous websites and circulating false claims that the producer was involved in serious criminal activity. Ghost has denied all allegations.

“We can’t just do, like, oh, she’s a bitch, she sucks,” a speaker whom THR identifies as Wallace says in the recording. “It’s, like, it’s got to be really, really heavy and connected to something that heavy.” The speaker goes on to suggest falsely claiming that Ghost is an “absolute madame” who was “getting hookers for Blavatnik,” referring to billionaire Len Blavatnik, whose AI Film company financed The Deb. Blavatnik did not respond to THR for comment.

Friday’s filing alleges that Wallace was instructing The Agency Group entertainment publicist Melissa Nathan, as well as other collaborators, on how to amplify the accusations by using anonymous content and online platforms, though it remains unclear who authorized the effort. At one point during the minute-long recording, the speaker identified as Wallace seemingly references Hollywood power lawyer Bryan Freedman, Wilson’s then-counsel.

Katie Case, former vice president of TAG, said in a deposition that the recording was sent to her by Melissa Nathan. Ghost’s lawyers claim at the deposition that she was told to review a document detailing accusations the site ultimately alleged against the producer. The outlet reported that the now-deleted site — titled Amanda Ghost is a Destroyer of Worlds — represented itself as being written by a whistleblower.

THR also reported that court filings, including an exhibit to a declaration, tendered in a California District Court name Camp Sugar, seemingly referring to Wilson’s production company, as an author of that document detailing the accusations.

“Rebel Wilson has repeatedly denied any involvement in the creation of the smear websites — not just on television but in her sworn legal testimony,” Camille Vasquez, a lawyer for Ghost, told Entertainment Weekly in a statement. “We, however, had long suspected that she not only contributed to the malicious sites but that she was the driving force behind them. The evidence we have submitted to the court in California supports that conclusion.”

Wallace and his firm, Street Relations, were previously involved in a similar case surrounding the much-anticipated film adaptation of It Ends With Us released in August 2024. The PR consultant was named as a defendant in leading lady Blake Lively’s complaint filed with the California Civil Rights Department against the film’s director-producer-star Justin Baldoni and his team. The complaint alleged that Wallace planted anti-Lively sentiment on websites like Reddit, which the Wayfarer team then would “feed” to “unwitting reporters, making content go viral in order to influence public opinion and thereby cause an organic pile-on.”

Wallace denied the allegations, filing a separate lawsuit against Lively in Texas in February 2025, accusing her of defamation and claiming that his mention in Lively’s CRD complaint and the document’s publication in media outlets have caused “great harm” to his reputation. In November of that year, a New York judge dismissed Lively’s claims against Wallace, ruling that her attorneys failed to show that he had sufficient connection to New York to be sued there.

Wallace and his firm were not listed as defendants in Lively’s federal complaint, though Wallace’s name does appear several times in the text of the document.

“The judge in the It Ends With Us case sealed the audio file to prevent exactly this sort of out of context speculation and accordingly he cannot comment directly about it including whether the audio file is authentic,” Chip Babcock, lawyer for Wallace, said to EW in a statement. “We note that he has been dismissed from his case and denies that he has participated in a so-called smear campaign against Blake Lively or anyone else.”

Wilson, Freedman, and Nathan did not immediately respond when EW reached out for comment. Freedman previously told THR that neither he nor Nathan and Wallace were involved in any sites filled with character-assassinating claims.

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The recording is the latest upset in the year-long battle between Wilson and several film producers, that has seen numerous suits and countersuits on multiple sides.

Wilson kicked off the legal battle in July 2024, when she posted a video to her Instagram and accused the film’s producers — Ghost, Gregor Cameron, and Vince Holden — of attempting to block The Deb‘s planned premiere in the closing slot of the Toronto International Film Festival. At the time, the Pitch Perfect star insinuated the producers had engaged in “inappropriate behavior toward the lead actress” on set, calling them “absolute f—wits” in the post’s caption.

Ghost, Cameron, and Holden hit back with a defamation suit in the same month, accusing Wilson of unprofessional conduct and of making “unauthorized and improper disclosures” about the film. Ghost’s defamation lawsuit included allegations that she and her public relations team were behind alleged smear websites that targeted Ghost, including one that accused her of “procuring young women for the pleasure of the extremely wealthy,” according to THR.

In October 2024, Wilson countersued her producers, accusing them of misappropriating $900,000 in Australian currency and expanding on the claim that The Deb star Charlotte MacInnes came to Wilson with an allegation about Ghost, which Wilson was later punished for reporting.

MacInnes herself filed a concerns notice in August 2025, accusing Wilson of defaming her by spreading the allegation that she identified as a victim of Ghost’s sexual misconduct, claims which she called “completely false and absurd.”

The Deb did ultimately premiere as the closing film of the 2024 edition of TIFF, but has yet to receive a wider release.