Emma Stone has refuted suggestions she was drunk when she presented an Oscar at last year’s Academy Awards.

The Help star took to the stage with Ben Stiller at the 2012 ceremony to present the Best Visual Effects honour to the team behind Hugo, but Stone’s giddy demeanour prompted rumours she had too much to drink before her big moment.

However, Stone is adamant she was simply playing for laughs, and didn’t get drunk until after she stepped off stage.

She tells W magazine, “We pretended that Ben had been to the Oscars many times and I was this really overly enthusiastic Oscar presenter. I was very excited, and he was not… A lot of people thought it was something else: When I came offstage, they were saying, ‘You were so drunk!’ And I wasn’t. Not until after.”

Stone recently teamed up with this year’s Oscars host Seth MacFarlane to announce the 2013 nominees on live TV.