They cut the entire segment, but Garfield was there with Miles to grant him his wish

Mar 7, 2014 20:06 GMT  ·  By
Andrew Garfield didn’t attend the Oscars 2014 because he was with Batkid Miles Scott at Disneyland
   Andrew Garfield didn’t attend the Oscars 2014 because he was with Batkid Miles Scott at Disneyland

Andrew Garfield was initially supposed to present at the Oscars 2014 last Sunday, with several new reports saying that he had actually been asked to be there to “officially” initiate Miles Scott, a 5-year-old battling cancer, as superhero Batkid. The Academy has now offered an explanation for why this never happened.

Various reports said that Garfield had pulled out of the ceremony because he “didn’t like his lines” and that he stormed out of rehearsals because producers of the Oscarcast would not let him write his own lines.

He didn’t even stop to think what this might do to little Miles, whose dream was always that of being named a superhero, it was said.

Nothing could be farther from the truth, the Academy says in a statement to Yahoo! Celebrity because what really happened was that producers had to cut the entire segment because there wasn’t enough time.

The theme of the evening was Heroes, and Batkid’s story would have gone perfectly with it but, sadly, before the big night, they realized they couldn’t possibly fit everything in it.

“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,” the statement says.

This also confirms the report that Miles was sent to Disneyland instead, while at the same time providing the whereabouts of the British actor, who was strangely absent from the ceremony. With his second “Spider-Man” film coming out soon, Andrew should have been working the red carpet.

A rep for Garfield supports the official line, saying that Andrew and Miles were both sad that they didn’t get their time up on stage at the Oscars.

“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. Andrew did the right thing for Batkid and anyone saying otherwise is flat out lying,” the publicist continues, clearly upset at the rumors that Garfield ditched a cancer-stricken kid because he was too much of a “diva” and an “artiste.”

Miles Scott previously got a lot of media attention when he became Batman’s aide for an entire day, thanks to an initiative on the part of the city of San Francisco and the Make-a-Wish foundation. The Oscars initiation ceremony would have made him Batkid in the most “official” manner imaginable but at least he got to spend the day with Spidey.