Emilia Clarke has responded to the coffee cup gaffe that has plagued Game Of Thrones for the last week.
On Sunday, eagle-eyed fans of the acclaimed drama noticed that an errant coffee cup appeared during a feast at Winterfell Castle, causing the mistake to go viral on social media within hours.
While it later emerged that the cup came from a coffee shop near the show’s set in Belfast, Northern Ireland, many assumed that it was a Starbucks product – leading to a wealth of free advertising for the drinks giant.
Now, actress Emilia Clarke has responded to claims that she might have been to blame, after the cup was spotted near her.
Posting a throwback photo that showed her alongside Khal Drago actor Jason Momoa and Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage), Clarke wrote: “Did I just stumble upon the truth here?! The cup bearer does not drinketh the Starbucks tea… oh and this ain’t a spoiler just a lost wanderer coming home for a mid filming cuppa…”
She also called actor Liam Cunningham a “bastard” for jokingly suggesting that she was to blame.
Clarke told the Los Angeles Times: “What a bastard! I don’t even drink Starbucks. I have no idea whose it was. Liam’s a cheeky one.“
She added: “The funny thing is in Belfast, there is no craft coffee selling Starbucks. Unless we’ve got the Americans in, some hotshot producer, and then we’ll have Starbucks lying around.”
Although Starbucks were quick to respond to the gaffe, it has since been removed from all future airings of the episode.
In a statement to Variety, Thrones art director Hauke Richter also said the gaffe is being “blown out of proportion [because] it has not happened with Thrones so far.”
He added to TMZ: “We are usually so diligent that this does not happen.
“The shoot was very hard and demanding and it is likely that after a very tiring episode three shoot, this was simply overlooked by an exhausted crew.”
Meanwhile, Sunday night’s episode also saw fans responding angrily after Jon Snow headed to King’s Landing without saying a proper goodbye to his beloved direwolf Ghost.