Ricky Gervais tries to put the rumors to rest by saying, “everyone took it well and the atmosphere backstage and at the after show was great.” So everything was hunky-dory, even after the gasp-inducing joke about Scientologists? (Gasp! Nobody’s made fun of Tom Cruise for being secretly gay before!) Apparently, the disappearance was just weird scheduling:

“There just happened to be a long gap. This is because I was allowed to choose who I would introduce in advance. I obviously chose presenters who I had the best jokes for. (And who I knew had a good sense of humor).”

That’s very different from what Gervais said after the show: “I probably won’t be here next year.” Or Robert Downey Jr.’s on-stage retort about his hosting style as being, “hugely mean-spirited with mildly sinister undertones.” Or more tellingly, what Hollywood Foreign Press Association President Philip Berk grunted out: “Some of the things he said were totally unacceptable.” Hmm… These quotes don’t tell the same story. Perhaps the man who ‘invented’ lying is also really, really bad at it. (Hollywood Reporter)