Sometimes I forget that Austin Butler is actually Austin Butler, and not Elvis. I think he might forget that, too. But one thing I could never forget is the 2020 breakup between Butler and Vanessa Hudgens.
The former couple was approaching a decade of dating before they called it off that January. According to E! News, the relationship ended due to “a matter of distance” and clashing schedules. They say time heals all wounds, but there still seems to be some tension lingering between the two.
On social media, Hudgens has been pretty vocal about her thoughts on Butler’s movie, Elvis. Like the rest of us, Hudgens wonders if Butler’s Elvis voice is here to stay, or if it’ll fade eventually. The latest installment in the Hudgens-Butler saga took place at the Vanity Fair Oscars afterparty on Sunday, March 12. A video recently surfaced that reveals Hudgens glancing at Butler, then walking straight past him with her eyes glued to her phone. Butler doesn’t seem to acknowledge Hudgens until the end of the video, where his eyes fall in her direction. While I can’t say whether or not he was stealing a look at his ex, there’s a very real chance that he might’ve.
Naturally, people took to Twitter to respond to the video. Most Twitter reactions have been poking fun at the fact that Elvis didn’t take home any awards that night despite having several nominations. Other tweets praise Hudgens for completely blocking out Butler. After the moment, Hudgens posted on her Instagram story on March 15 with the statement, “Let’s all be on the ‘I only talk about peace’ train. Ok?” “I only talk about peace” was a reference to activist Malala Yousafzai’s comeback to host Jimmy Kimmel at the 2023 Oscars.
After the video surfaced, TikTok users started editing Hudgens’ Twitter to make it look like she liked a post reporting Elvis’ losses at the Oscars. While that screenshot was exposed as a fake, commenters have theorized that Hudgens could’ve unliked the post. It may be possible that she did, but I don’t know anything for certain.
What I do know is that Hudgens is urging people not to jump to any conclusions. Both Hudgens and Butler have moved on — Hudgens is engaged to MLB player Cole Tucker and Butler’s been dating model Kaia Gerber since December 2021. Although the video raises a lot of questions, maybe we should all take Malala’s advice and leave Hudgens and Butler be.