Twenty-three chapters into her forthcoming memoir Rebel Rising, actress Rebel Wilson details an interaction with a mystery industry figure who “was a massive asshole,” she shared on Instagram earlier this month. Now, Wilson is naming names. In an Instagram Story post, she wrote: “The ‘asshole’ that I am talking about in ONE CHAPTER of my book is: Sacha Baron Cohen.”
Rebel Rising isn’t set to be released for another week or so, but the teasers and promotional posts have seemingly struck a nerve with those worried about what she might have written. “I will not be bullied or silenced by high priced lawyers or PR crisis managers,” Wilson wrote in the Instagram post, which has since been deleted, about Cohen.
Representatives for Wilson and Cohen did not immediately respond to Rolling Stone‘s request for comment.
In the initial teaser video, Wilson didn’t share too many details, let alone any names, while recalling how she came to develop a “no assholes” policy at work.
“When I first came to Hollywood, people were like, ‘Yeah, I have a no asshole policy, that means like, yeah, I don’t work with assholes.’ I was like, oh yeah, I mean, that sounds sensible and logical,” Wilson explained. “But then it really sunk in what they were meaning by that — older people in the industry — because I worked with a massive asshole. And, yeah, now I definitely have a no assholes policy. Chapter on said asshole — it is chapter 23, that guy was a massive asshole.”
In the comments section beneath the video, some viewers speculated about who the actress might be referring to, while others emphasized the importance of calling out bad actors in the film industry.
Cohen and Wilson last worked together on Louis Teterrier’s The Brothers Grimsby. The film, released in 2016, was an action comedy that Cohen wrote alongside Phil Johnston and Peter Baynham. It also starred Mark Strong, Isla Fisher, Annabelle Wallis, Gabourey Sidibe, Penélope Cruz, and Ian McShane. The film’s box office earnings fell around $7 million short of its $35 million budget. In a review, Rolling Stone described Grimsby as “a lame piece of funny business, bloated with frantic action and rectal violation.”
