The British star of The Amazing Spider-Man, Andrew Garfield, has fiercely denied reports that he upset a five-year-old cancer survivor at last Sunday's Oscars through alleged "egotistical" behaviour.
Five-year-old Miles Scott, who is in remission from leukaemia, made headlines around the world last November when he took part in an elaborate Make-A-Wish foundation project to save the city of San Francisco as superhero Batkid. He had been due to feature in a segment with Garfield at the annual Academy Awards ceremony, but the skit was cut at the last minute.
Garfield's representatives released a statement denying any responsibility. "In full collaboration with the Academy and the show writer, Andrew prepared a segment for the Oscars to honour Miles Scott as the true hero that he is," said a statement issued by his representatives. "As some point overnight on Saturday/Sunday morning, it was decided by those running the show that the segment didn't work in the ceremony. They decided to pull it – Andrew and Miles were equally upset. The producers arranged for Miles and his family to visit Disneyland on Monday and Andrew drove down to visit them and to bring Miles a personal gift.
"Andrew did the right thing for Batkid and anyone saying otherwise is flat out lying."
The Academy itself later issued a statement backing Garfield up. ""Due to the nature of a live show, hard decisions sometimes must be made which require the Academy to cut segments due to the logistics of production. Andrew Garfield understood that his segment had to be omitted, and he drove to Disneyland on Monday to spend time with five-year-old Miles Scott (Batkid) and his family."
The suggestion that Garfield had been at fault came via a report in the New York Post's Page Six column."The academy was going to make him an official superhero during the Oscar ceremony. Andrew Garfield was going to appoint him 'Batkid'. But, in the middle of the dress rehearsal, Garfield decided he didn't like his lines," the paper claimed. "Garfield refused to go by the script. He came up with his own lines. The producers felt that Garfield's [rewrites] were not appropriate. Garfield had a tantrum. He stormed off. Miles and his family, who were at the rehearsal, were devastated."
Earlier this week Miles's mother Natalie told the International Business Times that the skit had been unceremoniously cut by producers. She made no mention of Garfield in her comments.
"I don't know if they ran out of time, or if there was something about the segment they didn't like," she said. "It got pulled so quickly that we didn't have a lot of insight into what was going on."
Reading on mobile? Watch the official video of Batkid's big day in San Francisco here
