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The internet is obsessed with a theory that Harry Styles spat on costar Chris Pine during the premiere of their film Don’t Worry Darling, ever since a clip went viral. Now their representatives have spoken up and called the viral video a “complete fabrication”.

On Monday, a brief yet confusing interaction between the ‘As It Was’ singer and the Star Trek star at the Venice Film Festival went viral for all the wrong reasons. The stars were seated for the screening of their film alongside costars Florence Pugh, Gemma Chan and director Olivia Wilde when the alleged spitting moment was captured on video.

The clip was taken to Twitter by a user named JZ Maclin who claimed that the former One Direction band member “appears to spit” on Pine and that they won’t sleep until they find out the truth. The clip showed Styles’ mouth purse as he sits and Pine immediately glancing down at his pants and him giving Styles a sardonic look. The Wonder Woman star stopped clapping and looked down as if Styles did something before taking a seat.

By the next day the clip had already received over 5.5 million views with many in the reply section claiming that the singer “definitely” spat on his costar. Other users dismissed the news and said the actors were most likely joking around.

“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 representative told People Magazine.

“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,” they added.

A source close to Styles also told The Independent that the alleged incident was false.

Speculation surrounding the two actors adds to multiple controversies that have mired the press run for the upcoming film. This includes a dispute between the director’s latest statement about firing actor Shia LaBeouf and replacing him with Styles.

Ahead of the film’s release, Wilde told Vanity Fair that she fired the Transformers star in 2020 in order to create a “safe, trusting environment” on set, saying that his acting process was not conducive to the ethos. However, LaBeouf denied being fired by Wilde.

There are also rumours of Wilde’s alleged feud with film’s lead Pugh who skipped the press conference at the film festival as well. Their rift has been in the news since the beginning of 2022 because Pugh didn’t promote the film on her social media handles like the rest of the cast did when the trailer dropped online. There were rumours of her not being paid as much as Styles, which Wilde denied in a profile with Variety.

It was reported that Pugh will do limited press for the film at the festival as she is busy working on Dune 2. Wild also responded to the rumours, praising Pugh as an actor and saying, “As for all the endless tabloid gossip and all the noise out there. The Internet feeds itself. I don’t feel the need to contribute. I feel it is sufficiently well nourished.”

Don’t Worry Darling will be releasing on September 23.