Look I’m as ready to rake Sony over the coals as anyone, what they’ve done to Spider-Man is atrocious. But there’s no need to make it even worse by inventing fake casting rumors. In particular, fake casting rumors involving Robert Pattinson.

We’ve ignored the story as long as we could, but it’s spreading like wildfire. You’ve probably seen it by now. The report usually appears on a British tabloid or some sort of Perez Hilton equivalent which says it like this: “Robert Pattinson has been reported to be the top pick for Tobey Maguire’s replacement in Spider Man 4.” Reported by who? They never say. None of them do. That’s because it’s untrue.

They’re not telling you who reported it, because no one did. The story originated on message boards and in snarky joke posts where people theorized that his casting was the next move. I even saw his name in a few, pretty awful, randomly generated fantasy casting lists. Fantasy casting lists which also, rather horribly, included Michael Cera. Cera is now also being falsely reported as being in the running to play Spider-Man.

I’m not saying it couldn’t happen, I’m not saying it won’t happen. I’m just saying right now, there’s nothing out there to indicate that it will. Besides, Pattinson’s pretty busy. Odds are he’s unavailable even if Sony wanted him, since reports indicate that Pattnson is NBC's top pick to replace Conan O’Brian. Take that Team Conan!