He’s only about six months late to the party, but Chris Pine has finally decided to have his say on the whole Harry Styles ‘spitgate’ saga.
Remember all the Don’t Worry Darling drama? How could we forget.
If you cast your minds back to early September 2022, you may recall that 28-year-old pop icon Harry Styles ventured into acting by taking on his first leading role in the drama film Don’t Worry Darling – which is directed by Olivia Wilde, and stars Oscar-nominated Florence Pugh, as well as Nick Kroll, Gemma Chan, and KiKi Layne.
Oh, and of course, Chris Pine.
The film was released to mixed reviews at the end of September, but premiered at the 2022 Venice Film Festival and grabbed a whole host of headlines in the process.
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We’d be here all day if we tried to sum up all the drama and controversies surrounding the film, but by far one of the most talked-about moments from the festival was, bizarrely, the question of whether or not Styles spat on his co-star Pine as he sat down in his chair to watch a screening of the film.
/ Credit: Twitter
Caught live on camera, Pine’s shocked reaction to the supposed ‘spitgate’ interaction had fans convinced that it happened, and only added to the growing rumours that there was a rift between the two men.
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The footage subsequently went viral online, and racked up millions of views – seeing people weigh-in with their opinions in their thousands.
With hysteria around the situation growing, Styles first addressed and quashed he claims live on stage at Madison Square Garden – laughing it off and joking with the audience that “I just popped very quickly to Venice to spit on Chris Pine – but fear not, we’re back.”
And now, Chris Pine has had his say… after six whole months.
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In a new video interview with Esquire while promoting his upcoming film Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, Pine revealed what actually went down between the two – and even admits that he himself can see why so many people believed the interaction.
But no, we all know by now, it didn’t actually happen.
“Harry did not spit on me. Harry is a very, very kind guy,” Pine begins as tells Esquire.
“It does look, indeed, like Harry spitting on me. He didn’t spit on me,” Pine added, before going on to explain: “I think what he said is, he leaned down and he said ‘It’s just words, isn’t it?’. We had this little joke.
“We’re all jet-lagged, we’re all trying to answer these questions. Sometimes when you’re doing these press things, your brain gets befuddled and you start speaking gibberish. And we had a joke: ‘It’s just words, man.’”
We’re not quite sure we had jet-lag down as a potential reason for one of 2022’s most-talked-about moments, but if that’s we’re being told by the two men themselves, then what else do we have to go off?
Let’s finally just put it to bed now.
Featured Image – Esquire (via YouTube)
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Didsbury favourite Rustik has confirmed its will sadly be closing this month
Danny Jones
West Didsbury favourite Rustik has sadly announced it will be closing for food after a decade at the end of this month.
The beloved Burton cafe and bar has been a staple of the tight-knit foodie neighbourhood since 2015, but now the independent Irish eatery has confirmed that the business will be shutting down permanently in less than a fortnight.
Confirmed on Wednesday afternoon, 17 September, the casual Manc restaurant and hangout informed their loyal followers of the unfortunate news.
Unsurprisingly, their social media has been awash with condolences, collective sadness and support for the local institution.
Posting across all of their accounts, Rustik wrote: “After an unforgettable 10 years on Burton Road, the time has come to close our doors. It’s hard to believe how far we’ve come — never in a million years did we imagine Rustik would grow into what it became.
“From the bottom of our hearts, thank you to every single one of you who walked through our doors and supported us along the way. We poured everything we had — our time, our energy, our lives into making Rustik a space for everyone. And what a ride it’s been.
“From the chaotic, beautiful brunch shifts to late nights dancing on tables to ‘Wagon Wheel’, pushing through the challenges of COVID and helping our community with meals during hard times— we’ve done it all, together.
“To our amazing staff, past and present: thank you for your hard work, your dedication, and the love you brought every single day. You helped build something truly special, and we’ll never be able to thank you enough.
“To the incredible musicians who filled our space with life — keep doing what you do. The noise complaints? 100% worth the unforgettable nights.”
The team go on to detail that the official closing date is Tuesday, 30 September, reiterating that it is “business running as usual until then” and urging fans to “come down, grab your last Rustik fix, and raise a glass with us one final time.”
Signing off with an emotional farewell, they add: “Lastly, a message close to our hearts: please support your local cafes, bars, and independents. Hospitality is tough right now, and they need your support more than ever.
“Thank you for the most incredible decade of our lives. It’s over and out from us.”
It goes without saying that we’re gutted to see Rustik go and know how much it meant not only to the Burton Road community, but also to the Didsbury community, Chorlton and many other Greater Manchester natives.
Review | Villanelle debut: Liam Gallagher’s son’s band release their first track – here’s our review
Danny Jones
Liam Gallagher’s son, Gene, and his band Villanelle, have officially released their debut single to the masses, and since we’re still very much immersing ourselves in everything even remotely to do with Oasis, we thought we’d give this first track a review.
Now, if you’re expecting a familiar Britpop vibe like his dad and uncle used to bash out back in the day, you’d be very wrong…
It’s one thing to settle into something similar to what you’ve grown up around and try to continue a lineage if you’re from a successful family – especially with a legacy as important and influential as the one left by Liam and Noel – but we’re glad to report they’ve done something pretty different.
24-year-old Gene Gallagher and his bandmates Ben Taylor (guitar), Jack Schiavo (bass), and Andrew Richmond (drums) haven’t just tried to do an impression of Oasis; instead, they’ve found their own sound, and while it does give somewhat of an old-school flavour, it’s not what we expected.
It takes literally milliseconds for you to click into realising the vibe they’re going for.
‘Hinge’ is a simplistic but hard-hitting, grungey and dark debut from Villanelle, who, despite having played a number of in-progress songs live over the last year or so, have only just dropped their first studio single.
In fact, they’ve actually taken the admittedly bizarre and unorthodox first steps of having already played live with Liam Gallagher on the Definitely Maybe 30th anniversary tour before they actually released anything people can easily listen to outside of their live performances.
Nevertheless, the young four-piece introduces Villanelle as the latest post-punk outfit amidst the ongoing revival of the classic rock genre.
That is to say that punk is a tried and true classic style of music, not that these lads are trying to sound like The Rolling Stones…
Anyway, we’re getting sidetracked: Villanelle draw plenty of influences from both original and contemporary examples of this sonic subculture, and while it isn’t explosive per se, ‘Hinge’ is short, direct and hits the same formulaic notes.
It’s also fair to say you can hear a bit of the recognisable LG whine in Gene’s vocals at times, too. Listen to it in full down below and see if you agree.
Even the basic found-footage style video fits into the same category.
To call it straightforward isn’t intended as any kind of a diss, by the way – some of our favourite tunes and best artists spearheading the renaissance of the punk scene write like this.
What we will say is that it looks like bloody good fun to both play and listen to in a small, sweaty room, with plenty of pits and people bouncing off the walls.
Gallagher Sr. might be surprised to see his son going for a slightly heavier, more hardcore route with his sound, but he can’t accuse him of forgetting his roots as the child of a ‘Rock ‘N’ Roll Star.’
The boys are actually hitting the road this winter, including a date at The Castle Hotel in the Northern Quarter, if you fancy grabbing a ticket.
You can grab your tickets to see Villanelle on tour HERE, and in the meantime, let us know what you think of their debut track down in the comments.
Emily Sergeant -
2nd March 2023 
