分类： entertainment

One of Hollywood’s most recognizable comedic stars, Rebel Wilson, has forcefully rejected allegations that she bullied female colleagues on the set of her directorial debut, calling the claims “absolute nonsense” during her first day of testimony in a high-stakes defamation trial unfolding in Sydney. The legal action against the *Bridesmaids* actor was brought by 26-year-old Australian performer Charlotte MacInnes, who appeared in Wilson’s first feature film as director, *The Deb*. The case centers on a string of Instagram posts Wilson published between 2024 and 2025 that MacInnes argues have irreparably damaged her professional reputation.

At the core of the dispute is how MacInnes described a 2023 incident involving producer Amanda Ghost, who also worked on *The Deb*. In her posts, Wilson alleged MacInnes had initially complained of sexual harassment by Ghost during a post-swim encounter at Bondi Beach, only to withdraw the claim to advance her own career. MacInnes vehemently denies ever making a sexual harassment allegation against Ghost, saying Wilson’s version of events is entirely fabricated.

The incident that sparked the entire conflict dates to September 2023, when MacInnes and Ghost joined for an late-afternoon swim at Sydney’s iconic Bondi Beach. Ghost suffered a sudden and severe allergic reaction to cold water, a rare condition called cold urticaria that left her covered in painful red welts and shaking uncontrollably, the court heard during earlier proceedings. The pair hurried back to Ghost’s nearby beachside apartment, where MacInnes drew a hot bath to help ease Ghost’s symptoms. After Ghost got into a shower to warm up first, MacInnes stepped into the bath to warm herself; Ghost later joined her, and both remained in their swimsuits. Ghost’s assistant eventually brought hot drinks to the bathroom, where the three spoke briefly before the assistant left.

After the incident, Wilson spoke with MacInnes about what happened, and while both sides agree the conversation took place, they offer vastly conflicting accounts of its content. Wilson maintains MacInnes told her the encounter left her feeling “uncomfortable”, while MacInnes says she only ever described the situation as “weird” and “bizarre”, never indicating she felt sexually threatened or uncomfortable. Text messages presented to the court show Wilson told Ghost immediately after the conversation that “Charlotte says all good” and “She just meant ‘it was a bizarre situation’ not that she personally felt uncomfortable.”

When cross-examined by Sue Chrysanthou SC, MacInnes’ lead barrister, Wilson was pressed on her public self-identification as a “champion of women” — a label Wilson affirmed she still embraces. Chrysanthou challenged Wilson on this stance, pointing to accusations that the actor had publicly and privately mistreated MacInnes, Ghost, and a female writer on the set of *The Deb. “That’s absolute nonsense,” Wilson told the packed courtroom, which was filled with reporters, supporters from both sides, and multiple witnesses including Ghost. Wilson also pushed back on claims that her critical public social media posts about the women constituted mistreatment, arguing the statements were truthful, not malicious.

Throughout hours of questioning, Wilson repeatedly said she could not recall key details related to the case, including widespread backlash she received in 2018 after claiming she was the “first ever plus-sized girl” to lead a romantic comedy. She also denied any involvement in anonymous websites that have spread damaging rumors about both Ghost and MacInnes. Prosecutors have previously alleged Wilson hired a U.S. public relations firm to create websites that compared Ghost to disgraced sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell, who is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence for her role in Jeffrey Epstein’s criminal ring. Prosecutors have also raised the issue of a nude photo of MacInnes that was leaked online after her social media accounts were hacked, though no link between Wilson and the hack has been proven in court.

Wilson’s legal team has argued MacInnes has not suffered any professional harm from the Instagram posts, pointing instead to a string of career advances she has secured since the posts were published: MacInnes recently signed a record deal with major label Atlantic Records and landed a role in a new U.S. theater production being produced by Ghost. MacInnes is seeking aggravated damages for the alleged defamation and a court order to stop Wilson from repeating the claims on any public platform.

Wilson’s testimony is scheduled to continue on Wednesday, as the high-profile trial progresses through Sydney’s court system.

Manila, Philippines – A striking new cultural landmark has opened on the shores of Manila Bay, inviting visitors to step back into one of the most transformative yet under-told chapters of global history: the 250-year era of Spanish Pacific galleon trade. At the heart of the newly opened Museo del Galeon sits a full-scale, meticulously crafted replica of the *Espiritu Santo*, a 17th-century galleon that once plied the deadly trade route connecting Manila, Acapulco, and Spain.

Unlike many historical accounts of the galleon trade that center on European colonial powers, this new museum deliberately frames the story through the experiences of the Filipino people who built, crewed, and suffered under the colonial enterprise. From 1565 to 1815, 181 galleons completed hundreds of trans-Pacific crossings, forging the first sustained interconnected trade network linking Asia, the Americas, and Europe – a milestone many historians recognize as the dawn of early modern globalization. The *Espiritu Santo*, constructed with forced Filipino labor in 1603, was one of the most formidable vessels of its era.

Manuel Quezon, the museum’s executive director and a noted historian, emphasizes that the institution does not shy away from the brutal human and environmental cost of the galleon trade. For centuries, Spanish colonial authorities required able-bodied Filipino men to complete 40 days of unpaid forced labor annually felling old-growth hardwoods and constructing the massive ships. Many others were conscripted to serve as crew for voyages that could last more than a year, with death tolls averaging one out of every three sailors per crossing.

Cramped, overcrowded hulls loaded with luxury cargo left crewmembers surviving on a meager, often rotten diet of hardtack, spoiled salted meat, and rotting fish. Disease and starvation were rampant, and deadly uprisings against the exploitative system broke out across multiple shipbuilding sites, including the Cavite coast near Manila. Even as the trade reshaped global commerce and introduced new foods, religions, cultural practices, and ideas to the Philippines that shape modern Filipino identity today, it left a trail of environmental destruction, decimating local old-growth forests and shattering Indigenous communities.

“It was the first global trade, connecting three continents. It made the world smaller,” explained Francis Navarro, archives director at Manila’s Ateneo de Manila University, of the trade’s historical significance. Quezon added that the long legacy of Filipino seafaring persists to this day: Filipinos still make up one quarter of the world’s merchant sailors, a tradition rooted in the exploitative galleon era that has never been fully highlighted in mainstream historical narratives.

After 14 years of planning and development, the museum opened its doors to the public on May 1. Visitors can walk the decks of the replica *Espiritu Santo*, surround by immersive, wraparound LED displays that recreate the open Pacific skies. Artifacts recovered from actual galleon wrecks line the surrounding exhibit halls, including a fragment of a Chinese tomb stone once used as ballast in a 17th-century ship’s hold.

The $16.5 million (billion-peso) project ultimately secured funding from some of the Philippines’ wealthiest families after attempts to secure government financing and support from a Mexican billionaire fell through. Unlike the original *Espiritu Santo*, the modern replica is not built from native hardwood – a choice made out of environmental responsibility. The original 1,000-ton galleon required 800 mature old-growth water-resistant hardwood trees, a stock that has been completely wiped out in the Philippines due to centuries of unsustainable logging for shipbuilding. Today, those trees can only be found in remote Myanmar forests, and clearing that many ancient trees to build a static display would have been unethical, Quezon explained. Instead, the replica was constructed from fiberglass and other synthetic materials while remaining scrupulously accurate to the original ship’s design and dimensions.

Quezon notes that the museum fills a critical gap in Philippine historical memory. “We’re filling the blanks in with this museum,” he said during a pre-opening tour. “The child who comes through, we want them to realise that many of the things that they take for granted have absolutely amazing stories behind them.”

As artificial intelligence cloning technology grows more accessible and unregulated, global pop superstar Taylor Swift has taken official steps to shield her distinctive voice from unauthorized exploitation, joining a small but growing group of high-profile creators fighting to protect their intellectual property in the AI age.

Swift has filed two trademark applications with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) centered on her voice, according to filings first uncovered by intellectual property attorney Josh Gerben. The submissions include two separate sound recordings that each open with the singer’s recognizable greeting “Hey, it’s Taylor” before promoting her recently released October album *The Life of a Showgirl*. A third filing submitted Friday includes an official promotional photograph of Swift performing on stage. No additional details about the scope of the requested trademark protections have been made public in the filings, and Swift’s publicist did not immediately provide comment when reached by Agence France-Presse.

Swift’s move mirrors a similar step taken by Academy Award-winning actor Matthew McConaughey in recent years, who filed his own USPTO application to protect his voice from unauthorized AI replication. McConaughey’s filings include audio of two of his most iconic lines: the oft-quoted “Alright, alright, alright!” from his 1993 breakout role in *Dazed and Confused*, as well as his personal mantra “Just keep livin’, right?” alongside a collection of other short signature phrases.

The growing push for voice protection from A-list creators comes as rapid advances in generative AI have drastically lowered the barrier to creating convincing deepfake vocal clones. Where replicating a person’s voice once required hours of source recordings and days of processing, modern AI models can generate a nearly indistinguishable synthetic voice from a 30-second clip in mere seconds.

This technological leap has sparked widespread anxiety among performers and creators, who warn that unregulated AI can duplicate their voice and likeness for unauthorized commercial use, scams, or deepfake content without any compensation or consent. In response, a handful of U.S. state legislatures have begun updating privacy and intellectual property laws to address the gap. Most existing state laws only ban malicious or for-profit unauthorized use, but a small number of regions have adopted broader protections — most notably Tennessee’s 2024 ELVIS Act, named for music icon Elvis Presley, which extends sweeping intellectual property protections to creators’ likenesses and voices.

To date, legal action by performers against unauthorized AI cloning remains relatively rare. The highest-profile case came in 2023, when A-list actor Scarlett Johansson filed a lawsuit against the developer of the Lisa AI app. Johansson alleged the app created an unauthorized AI avatar matching her likeness to use in a commercial advertisement without her permission or compensation.