Anne Hathaway Denies Not Shaking Journalist's Hand Over Ebola Fear

Anne Hathaway isn’t scared of ebola, and it’s certainly not why she didn’t shake the hand of an Argentinian journalist, her reps have said.

But that’s what she was accused of by film show 24xSegundo reporter Alexis Puig, who had flown in from Buenos Aires to interview the star in Los Angeles.

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Puig noted that the actress deferred any kind of physical contact, and later tweeted that it was because she was scared of the disease which has spread across Africa.

He wrote: “Anne Hathaway no me dio la mano ‘por miedo al ebola #soyunperiodistadeltercermundo,” meaning ‘Anne Hathaway didn’t shake my hand because she was she was afraid of ebola #I’mAThirdWorldJournalist.’

He added that her co-stars on the press junket for Christopher Nolan’s ‘Interstellar’ were fine with shaking hands.

“Christopher Nolan, Matthew McConaughey and Jessica Chastain were great in the interviews [and none of them denied me their hands].Take that Anne!” he said.

Hathaway’s people have blasted the accusation, however.

“That is nonsense,” they told the MailOnline. “She wasn’t shaking anyone’s hands because she was coming down with a cold and didn’t want to get anyone sick.”

But not content with his earlier remarks, Puig kept on fanning the flames.

“Thank you to everyone for your comments. Luckily I’m already in Buenos Aires, Argentina (city and country free of Ebola)…and at home Anne?” he went on.

The remarks are, of course, unlikely to divert too much from the hurtling press campaign behind the forthcoming sci-fi epic.

Reviews have already begun emerging online, largely hailing the movie as a success.

In Variety, Scott Foundas said the film ‘reaffirms Nolan as the premier big-canvas storyteller of his generation, more than earning its place alongside ‘The Wizard of Oz’, ‘2001’, ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’ and ‘Gravity’ in the canon of Hollywood’s visionary sci-fi head trips’.

The Guardian were less keen, however, Henry Barnes saying ‘not every film need address the possibility of human extinction with the gung-ho silliness of Armageddon, but at least that was a space adventure. This is a science report’.

Currently it’s hold a reasonable 69% ‘fresh’ rating on reviews aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes.

Image credits: Reuters/Twitter