The Don’t Worry Darling Premiere Spitgate Chronicles continue.
On Sept. 7 at his Love On Tour Madison Square Garden concert in New York City, Harry Styles stood in front of a cheering crowd (with feather boas galore, of course), clad in a zigzag purple and yellow jumpsuit. The 28-year-old singer seemed ecstatic to be back onstage after taking a brief hiatus from his 15 nights performing at Madison Square Garden to fly out to the Venice Film Festival for the Don’t Worry Darling premiere — where said Spitgate Chronicles took place.
Before continuing his performance, Styles cheekily leaned into the mic, saying, “It’s wonderful to be back in New York. I just popped very quickly to Venice to spit on Chris Pine.” The crowd erupted in squeals and applause as Styles grinned and laughed at his own joke.
TikTok user @barcelonahair posted a video of Styles addressing the Chris Pine rumor and one user commented, “He’s been waiting hours to make this joke. He’s so proud of it as well😭😭.” Another commented, “we were in the trenches for the past two days for him to laugh about it on stage 😭😭😭😭😭.”
The Don’t Worry Darling Premiere Spitgate Chronicles originally took the internet by storm on Sept. 5 at the Venice Film Festival, where a video of Styles taking his seat next to Chris Pine at the premiere went viral after what looked like Styles spitting (yes, you read that correctly) on Pine. If you watch the video too many times, either one of two things can happen: Either you practically see the spit flying out of Styles’ mouth in high-definition, or you see nothing and begin to spiral and question if anything even really happened at all.
While the internet is still divided over whether Styles actually spat on Pine, a representative for Pine told PEOPLE on Sept. 6 that the entire story was “ridiculous” and a “complete fabrication.” “Just to be clear, Harry Styles did not spit on Chris Pine,” Pine’s representative said. “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.”
On top of the spitting rumors, the Don’t Worry Darling premiere erupted in a slew of celebrity gossip and fan theories online after Florence Pugh missed the entire press conference (and arrived late with an Aperol spritz in hand) and Pine appeared to be half asleep the entire night. Days following the premiere, fans are still scrambling for answers to their questions: Are Pugh and Olivia Wilde truly beefing, and did Styles and Wilde break up? Why did Styles kiss Nick Kroll? And once again, did Styles really spit on Pine?!
Regardless of whether the spitting rumors are true, what is clear is this: The whole Spitgate Chronicles debacle is great press for Don’t Worry Darling, which has received mixed reviews from critics. From the endless memes online about the rumors to fans obsessively overanalyzing the video from different angles, this pivotal moment on the internet is surely one that public relations students will study someday.