Chris Pine says Harry Styles was cracking a joke, not spitting on him at the Don't Worry Darling premiere

Last September, the video footage of Harry Styles casually fixing his suit jacket and then, allegedly, spitting on Chris Pine at the Venice premiere of Don't Worry Darling was the cherry on top of an already drama-filled press tour. Now, Pine is once again setting the record straight on what happened between him and the "As It Was" singer in the viral clip.

The actor revealed in Esquire's latest "Explain This" video that Styles wasn't hocking any supposed spittle at him but instead cracking an inside joke in the infamous video. In fact, Pine said that he didn't even know about the so-called Spit-Gate until his publicist woke him up about it on the plane from Venice.

"She wakes me up in a state and she says, 'We have to craft a message on what happened in Venice.' And I was like, 'About what?' 'About Harry spitting on you,'" he said. "I had no idea what happened. She showed me the thing and it does look, indeed, like Harry spitting on me. He didn't spit on me."

In actuality, Pine said that Styles, who he called a "very kind guy," was just trying to have a bit of fun before the film began.

"He leaned down and I think he said, 'It's just words, isn't it?'" Pine said. "We had this little joke. We were all jet lagged, we're all trying to answer questions and sometimes when you're doing these press things your brain goes befuddled and you start speaking gibberish, so we had a joke: 'It's just words, man.'"

At the time, a representative for Pine denied any conflict between him and Styles at the event. "This is a ridiculous story," they told EW in a statement. "A complete fabrication and the result of an odd online illusion that is clearly deceiving and allows for foolish speculation. Just to be clear, Harry Styles did NOT spit on Chris Pine."

They added, "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."

The pair's fictional phlegm fight was one of many moments that came under the intense scrutiny of the internet amid swirling rumors of rifts between Don't Worry Darling's cast and crew, most notably between lead actress Florence Pugh and director Olivia Wilde. Looking back on the shoot, Pine told Esquire, "If there was drama, there was drama." However, he added, "I absolutely didn't know about it, nor really would I have cared."

"If I feel badly, it's because the vitriol that the movie got was absolutely out of proportion with what was onscreen," Pine continued. "Venice was normal things getting swept up in a narrative that people wanted to make, compounded by the metastasizing that can happen in the Twitter-sphere. It was ridiculous."

After the festival, Styles poked fun at the video during a concert in New York City, telling the crowd that he "just popped over quickly to Venice to spit on Chris Pine." While he didn't spit on Pine, Styles did end up swapping spit with someone at the premiere: Nick Kroll, who he kissed during the film's standing ovation.

Watch Pine explain the spit-less moment between him and Styles in the clip above.

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Related content:

• Chris Pine's rep says Harry Styles 'did NOT' spit on him at Don't Worry Darling premiere
• Harry Styles jokes that he DID actually spit on Chris Pine at the Don't Worry Darling premiere
• Everything (we think) we know about all the Don't Worry Darling behind-the-scenes drama