Olivia Wilde has put to rest any lingering speculation that Harry Styles spit on Chris Pine at a screening of their film Don’t Worry Darling at the Venice Film Festival.
“No, he did not,” the director said during an appearance on Wednesday’s episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
“Harry did not spit on Chris, in fact. No, he really didn’t."
Wilde added: "People will look for drama anywhere they can.
“People can look at a video that shows evidence of someone not spitting on someone else and they’ll still see what they want to see. And that is the creation of drama. And that is clickbait.”
Wilde, who is dating Styles, said she doesn’t believe male directors would be answering similar questions about their cast.
Twitter was in a tizzy after journalist Matt Ramos shared a video clip of Styles taking his seat next to Pine at a Venice Film Festival screening of their film. Pine stopped clapping and looked down between his legs before smiling. The clip was captioned: “Did Harry Styles just spit on Chris Pine??”
Pine’s rep shot down speculation that Styles spat on Pine.
“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,” read a statement.
“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.”
At his Sept. 7 concert in New York City, Styles joked: “I just popped very quickly to Venice to spit on Chris Pine. Fear not, we’re back.”