Here's what you didn't see at the Oscars: The Academy Awards pulled a segment with 5-year-old Miles Scott, also known as Batkid, Mashable has learned.
Batkid's special day lit up San Francisco (and the Internet) in October, and the Oscars was set to pay tribute to him Sunday with a special segment where Spider-Man star Andrew Garfield was to introduce Miles as "the word's next superhero." At that point, the 5-year-old was to walk on stage to rapturous applause.
The segment was rehearsed on Saturday, but got pulled in the early hours of Sunday morning without explanation. Garfield was a no-show at the Oscars, with many news sources wondering why he was absent.
A truncated segment of clips celebrating various cinematic heroes, which was supposed to conclude with Scott appearing on stage, was introduced by Captain America star Chris Evans. A Gotham-like set, with "Batkid" in large letters -- which you can see below, in a picture from Miles' appearance at the rehearsal Saturday -- was removed.
Miles was offered, and took, a trip to Disneyland instead, with all expenses paid by the Academy Awards.
"Of course Miles and his family were disappointed," says a source close to Batkid's family. "It was heart-wrenching to speak to them. The last thing they wanted was to see their son disappointed."
Make-a-Wish, which arranged for Batkid's special day, specified that it was not responsible for the segment getting pulled.
"Make-A-Wish was not involved in any way with any decision about what did not or what did make it in on-air that evening," said Josh deBerge, national communications manager for the Make-A-Wish of America organization.
The Academy Awards did not respond to Mashable's request for comment.