Update: Well, that didn't take long. The Hollywood spin machine has jumped into action. The Academy released a statement saying the bit was cut for "technical" reasons and that Garfield actually drove to Disney to spend some time with Batkid. Here's the full statement that may or may not absolve Garfield of his guilt:
"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 5-year-old Miles Scott (Batkid) and his family."
Update 2: Batkid's parents have spoken out on the subject to IBT but haven't really been able to shed any light on what happened. They say, "It got pulled so quickly that we didn’t have a lot of insight into what was going on."
The whole thing is still extremely fishy.
Here's the original story in its entirety...
More details are starting to emerge about why the segment featuring Andrew Garfield and Batkid was cut from the Academy Awards, and if true, they paint a pretty ugly picture of Spider-Man. Apparently, the bit wasn’t cut for time or because it was awkward. It was cut because the actor stormed out of rehearsals and refused to be a part of it after producers told him he wasn’t allowed to write his own lines.
The whole upsetting story came out today on Page Six and was clarified a bit further by Us Weekly, who claims Chris Evans was only asked to fill in the day of the show. Apparently, Garfield was tapped to make Batkid an official superhero prior to introducing some clips that would run on the show. During dress rehearsal, the thirty-year-old allegedly stopped the skit and began arguing with producers about not liking his lines. He allegedly told them he’d write his own. They weren’t happy with his choice and long story short, he stormed out like a retreating supervillain. Or at least that’s the story going around.
Garfield hasn’t commented publically on the matter, nor has anyone directly involved with either Spider-Man or the Oscars. Instead, these are merely depressing whispers seeping out in the aftermath of a ceremony that was otherwise pretty tasty and successful.
Fortunately for Batkid, his missed moment was made a little less disappointing by producers. After he flew out for the occasion and was ultimately cut from the broadcast, they reportedly paid for him and his family to spend the day at Disneyland. No doubt that was a nice memory and probably even more fun for the little guy in the short-term than sitting backstage twiddling his thumbs and waiting for his five minutes in front of the camera.
Batkid, of course, rose to prominence back in November when the city of San Francisco was turned into Gotham for his Make A Wish day. He foiled villains, saved a damsel in distress and won the hearts of millions. There were some who thought the stunt cost a little too much money, but considering how much hope and how many smiles it brought to people who used it to see the goodness in humanity, I would say the expense was worth it. Too bad that happiness couldn’t be recreated on a much smaller scale this past Sunday.
Whether there are more wrinkles to this story or not, this entire mess is horrible press for Garfield, Sony and Spider-Man. To put it bluntly, it makes him look like an egotistical douche with bad self-awareness. Here’s to hoping he uses it as an example to learn from and become a better person moving forward.
Here’s a shot of BatKid on his big day just because…
