Chris Pine Speaks Out on "Spitgate" and What Harry Styles Really Said

Chris Pine revealed what Harry Styles said to him during the infamous "Spit-Gate" moment from last year. If you were on the Internet in 2022, you probably remember the wild scene on social media when Don't Worry Darling was premiering at the Venice Film Festival. Esquire caught up with the Dungeons & Dragons star to talk about the spittle heard round the world. In Pine's own words, we all blew this out of proportion as an optical illusion took on a life of its own. A very innocent moment from Styles became this big story overnight and he was just mortified about all of it.

The star began, "I think what he said, is he leaned down, and I think he said, 'It's just words, isn't it?' Because we had this little joke, because we're all jetlagged, we're all trying to answer these questions, and sometimes when you're doing these press things, your brain goes all befuddled, you know, you start speaking gibberish, and we had a joke like, 'It's just words, man.'"

"If there was drama, there was drama," Pine told the magazine. "I absolutely didn't know about it, nor really would I have cared. If I feel badly, it's because the vitriol that the movie got was absolutely out of proportion with what was onscreen. Venice was normal things getting swept up in a narrative that people wanted to make, compounded by the metastasizing that can happen in the Twittersphere. It was ridiculous."

What Other Fallout Has There Been From That Day?

In a prepared statement, Pine's representation categorically denied all of the social media sleuthing that was taking place around the infamous incident. But, there's no smoke to that fire according to both parties directly involved. 

"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," Pine's rep explained to Variety. "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."

A journalist asked Wilde to go ahead and and clear the air about all the drama surrounding the movie. After all, the spectacle of the press tour and that presentation ended up completely overshadowing Don't Worry Darling. She wasn't about to even give it the time of day.

"Florence is a force and we are so grateful that she is able to make it tonight despite being in production on Dune," Wilde offered as her "clearing the air" about various rumors surrounding the movie. "I know as a director how disruptive it is to lose an actor even for a day so I'm very grateful to her and [Dune director] Denis Villeneuve for helping us -- we're really thrilled we'll get to celebrate her work tonight."

Do you remember all of this nonsense from last year? Let us know down in the comments!