Harry Styles basically had his fans doing a spit-take when he addressed the clip of him allegedly spitting on his "Don't Worry Darling" co-star Chris Pine at the Venice International Film Festival.
The "As It Was" and "Watermelon Sugar" crooner owned the viral moment Wednesday night by playing along with reports that he dissed Pine on Monday at their movie premiere. The 28-year-old told the massive crowd gathered for his Love on Tour run at Madison Square Garden — and the rest of the world via social media footage — that it was good to be back onstage for his 10-show stint after handling his business in Italy.
"Wonderful to be back in New York. I just popped very quickly to Venice to spit on Chris Pine," he said and chuckled, garnering roaring cheers and applause. "But fear not, we're back. Our job tonight is to entertain you."
The former One Direction frontman seemed to embrace the tragicomic spiral that "Don't Worry Darling" has devolved into, pitting him at various points against Pine, actor Shia LaBeouf and even "Ted Lasso" star Jason Sudeikis. His checkmate came after months of offscreen intrigue surrounding the mid-century thriller, which reached a fever pitch over the week ahead of its debut in Venice.
Like it or not, "Don't Worry Darling" director Olivia Wilde, 38, and her beau Styles have fueled countless reports about their relationship, which is believed to have sparked during their time working on the production. This was in addition to reports of discord on the set between the director, star Florence Pugh and Styles' predecessor LaBeouf. Pugh, 26, the Oscar-nominated actor who might now forever be known by Wilde's moniker of "Miss Flo," reportedly had issues with LaBeouf, 36, and Wilde alleged she fired the embattled "Honey Boy" actor because of his "combative energy" (only to have him counter her claim).
As for how Sudeikis, 42, fits into this gossip dumpster fire, it was his camp that ambushed his ex-wife Wilde with a cryptic "personal and confidential" envelope relating to their child-custody dispute onstage at CinemaCon in April when she was trying to promote the film.
The next wild turn came over the weekend, just after Pugh backed out of more promotional appearances. But the "Black Widow" star's triumphant red-carpet return was completely eclipsed Monday when a surreal clip of Pine reacting to the "odd online illusion" of Styles' saliva projectile-vomited itself into nearly every corner of the internet.
In fact, the clip was so ubiquitous that Pine's representatives were compelled to address it and vehemently refute the notion that Styles would do such a thing.
"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," a representative for Pine said Tuesday in a statement to The Times.
"Just to be clear, Harry Styles did NOT spit on Chris Pine …… 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," the rep said.
But, according to the cheeky Styles, he totally did.
For her part, Wilde has tried to weather the media firestorm that has engulfed her film with as much poise as possible.
"No amount of internet bullying can cause me to question my belief in a movie made collectively by so many brilliant people," she said in a Vanity Fair interview published online Thursday. "We worked too hard, and went through too much together, to be derailed by something that really has nothing to do with filmmaking."
She also took particular care to support Pugh: "Florence's performance in this film is astounding. It's just baffling to me that the media would rather focus on baseless rumors and gossip, thereby overshadowing her profound talent. She deserves more than that. As does the movie, and everyone who worked so hard on it."
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