Superstar Harry Styles’ appearance at the Venice Film Festival is making headlines after video surfaced online that some have suggested appeared to show the singer spitting on Chris Pine at the premiere of their film.
In a video that circulated on Twitter Monday, the 28-year-old English singer walked into the theater before footage from the premiere of Olivia Wilde’s “Don’t Worry Darling” started. In the audience was Wilde sitting next to Pine. Then next to him was an open seat.
In the clip, we see Styles walk out, lean slightly over Pine, and sit down next to him. In the next shot, Pine stopped clapping, looked down at his lap, grinned, and then picked up the sunglasses in his lap. It is unclear if Wilde saw what allegedly occurred, as she was clapping for the British star and looking up at the audience at the time.
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Despite the speculation and video, a source close to the situation told E! News that it didn’t happen.
“Harry did not spit on Chris and there is nothing but respect between the two,” the source shared. Nonetheless, the hashtag “#Spitgate” has surfaced.
A short time later, a rep for Pine released a statement to People magazine.
“This is a ridiculous story — a complete fabrication and the result of an odd online illusion that is clearly deceiving and allows for foolish speculation,” the representative for the actor shared.
“Just to be clear, Harry Styles did not spit on Chris Pine,” the rep added. “There is nothing but respect between these two men and any suggestion otherwise is a blatant attempt to create drama that simply does not exist.”
IMDb’s description of “Don’t Worry Darling” reads, “A 1950s housewife living with her husband in a utopian experimental community begins to worry that his glamorous company may be hiding disturbing secrets.”
It was just the latest drama to hit Wilde’s film, which has been in the news lately. Fans have been speculating that Wilde and Styles are no longer dating, following a lack of interaction at various promotional events for her film at the festival.
Other eagle-eyed fans noticed that Wilde and one of the stars of her film, Florence Pugh, never made eye contact during the standing ovation following the premiere, E! News noted.
The alleged drama between the two actresses stems from the speculation of a feud between the two regarding reports the “Black Widow” star was reportedly paid less than Styles for her part in the film.
However, Wilde has shut down speculation and said there had been a lot out there, adding that she ignores it, Variety noted.
“But the absurdity of invented clickbait and subsequent reaction regarding a nonexistent pay disparity between our lead and supporting actors really upset me,” the 38-year-old actress explained.
“I’m a woman who has been in this business for over 20 years, and it’s something that I have fought for myself and others, especially being a director,” she added. ” There is absolutely no validity to those claims.”