(CNN) — The internet hasn’t stopped talking about “#spitgate,” the term that was born online last year when viral footage from the Venice Film Festival showed singer-actor Harry Styles performing a move that led some to believe he spat on her “Don’t Worry Darling” co-star Chris Pine.
Months after the September 2022 controversy, Pine himself finally entered the conversation to end it.
“Harry didn’t spit at me,” Pine told Esquire in an interview published Wednesday. He added that he thinks Styles is a “very, very nice guy.”
Pine said he saw the footage and admitted that it “actually looks like Harry is spitting on me.”
The “Star Trek” actor further clarified what really happened, explaining that Styles leaned over to Pine to say, “Those are just words, aren’t they?” The comment, Pine said, ran into a ” “Little Joke” the cast of “Don’t Worry Darling” had about interacting with the media during the promotion of the film, which was the purpose of their Venice appearance at the time. Time.
(From left) Olivia Wilde, Chris Pine, Harry Styles and Gemma Chan at the 2022 Venice Film Festival. Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images
While this is the first time Pine has addressed the incident directly, a rep for the actor previously issued a statement denying that anything malicious happened between Pine and Styles.
Olivia Wilde, who directed and also starred in Don’t Worry Darling, echoed the sentiment weeks later, telling Stephen Colbert that Harry “didn’t spit on Chris.”
He added that the viral video “is a perfect example of people doing drama wherever they can,” which apparently was a reference to the many rollicking narratives that emerged from the film’s production and subsequent promotion.
Even Styles himself joked about the incident during one of his concerts.
Looks like there’s nothing to worry about now, darling. Everything is fine between Styles and Pine.