UPDATE (March 6, 4:22 p.m. EST): Andrew Garfield's representative Rupert Fowler released a statement about the situation to HuffPost Celebrity. "In full collaboration with the Academy and the show writer, Andrew prepared a segment for the Oscars to honor Miles Scott as the true hero that he is. At 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," Fowler says. "Andrew did the right thing for Batkid and anyone saying otherwise is flat out lying."
UPDATE (March 6, 12:57 p.m. EST): An Academy spokesperson told E! that Garfield spent time with Miles and his family at Disneyland on Monday. The statement read: "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."
PREVIOUSLY: "Spider-Man" star Andrew Garfield allegedly became a real-life bad guy when he ditched an Oscars segment with a leukemia-stricken 5-year-old boy, according to the New York Post.
During a dress rehearsal attended by Miles Scott -- who warmed hearts worldwide as "Batkid" last November after the Make-A-Wish Foundation arranged for him to dress up as "Batman" and fight crime in San Francisco -- Garfield reportedly balked at his lines for the superheroes presentation and began improvising them, a source told Page Six.
Producers objected and Garfield stormed off the set, leaving Scott and his family "devastated," the source reportedly said. The piece was cut Sunday, March 2, just hours before the Academy Awards broadcast. Producers reportedly paid for Scott and his family to go to Disneyland for their trouble.
The Hollywood Reporter painted a more innocent picture of events, saying that the segment didn't gel as originally planned. "Basically, because of the fluid nature of live TV production, ultimately the segment didn't work," an Academy spokesperson told the trade outlet.
Scott's mom, Natalie Scott, expressed bewilderment. “I don’t know if they ran out of time, of if there was something about the segment they didn’t like,” she told the International Business Times. “It got pulled so quickly that we didn’t have a lot of insight into what was going on.”
The Huffington Post has reached out to Garfield's rep for a comment and will update the story if we hear back.
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