Andrew Garfield, Batkid, and the Missing Oscars Appearance: What Really Went Down

Andrew Garfield, Batkid (FilmMagic/AP Photo)

Did Spider-Man diss Batkid?

A widely disseminated Page Six item laid out the juicy claim: Andrew Garfield "snubbed" Miles Scott, the 5-year-old leukemia patient who became known worldwide as Batkid, at the Oscars after a disagreement with the script, with Garfield ultimately refusing to participate.

According to the tabloid account, which predictably led to Internet backlash against the "Spider-Man" star, Garfield was scheduled to present at Sunday's show where he was going to make Miles an official superhero (the show's theme was Movie Heroes) during the ceremony. Both were noticeably absent, and Chris "Captain America" Evans stepped in at the last minute on Sunday to present.
However, the decision was not personal… and not as dramatic.
As it turns out, the Oscar producers made the last-minute choice to eliminate the Garfield-Scott portion of the ceremony. The Academy absolved Garfield of any Batkid-dream-crushing guilt on Thursday.

"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," the Academy said in a statement. "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."
"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," a publicist for the actor explained. "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," continued the rep. "Andrew did the right thing for Batkid and anyone saying otherwise is flat out lying."
If that wasn't adorable enough, Andrew and Miles also had a mini superhero anointing ceremony in Miles's hotel room.
"I don't know if they ran out of time, or if there was something about the segment they didn't like," Miles's mother, Natalie Scott, told the International Business Times. "It got pulled so quickly that we didn't have a lot of insight into what was going on. … It is kind of a disappointment, but things happen. I know that's how TV goes and how Hollywood is. We're just not used to that."

Miles, of course, made headlines in November after San Francisco shut down and allowed him to live out his Make-A-Wish dream and be Batman for a day.

The Make-A-Wish foundation had nothing but praise for Andrew Garfield in a statement: "We were pleased that Andrew, on his own time, drove to Anaheim on Monday to spend time with 5-year-old Miles and his family."

Once again, Spider-Man saved the day.