(CNN) — Bruce Wayne would never stand for BatKid getting cut from the Oscars, and the Internet hasn’t either.
Rumor has it that the March 2 Oscars ceremony was supposed to include 5-year-old Miles Scott, aka “BatKid,” but didn’t due to rumored tension between the show’s producers and “The Amazing Spider-Man” star Andrew Garfield.
Now the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is supplying an explanation.
“Due to the nature of a live show, hard decisions sometimes must be made,” a statement from the Academy says. And those difficult decisions, the statement continues, “require the Academy to cut segments due to the logistics of production.”
Initially, Miles was going to appear during the Oscars’ superhero segment along with Garfield. Miles has become about as famous as the actor, thanks to his heroic efforts as “BatKid” last fall. Miles has been fighting leukemia since he was 20 months old, and, through the “Make-A-Wish” foundation, wanted nothing more than to be Batman for the day.
In November his wish was granted, as San Francisco was turned into Gotham and thousands of volunteers — including President Obama — rooted for Miles and pitched in to give him plenty of crime-fighting to do.
His participation in the Oscars ceremony would have been a treat, for both Miles and the viewers at home.
But on March 5, the New York Post’s Page Six ran a story implying that tension between Garfield and the show’s producers led to the bit being pulled.
Both the Academy and Garfield have disputed those claims, saying that it was a mutual understanding that the segment needed to be eliminated.
Garfield’s lawyers told the Post that “Andrew did nothing but give his time to Miles,” and that it was producers Zadan and Meron who “decided the bit didn’t flow. It didn’t work. It wasn’t because Andrew refused anything.”
And according to the Academy, 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 and his family.”
CNN’s Carolyn Sung contributed to this report.
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