Um… Is Austin Butler trying to rewrite history here?!
The 31-year-old’s career has taken off since he scored the role of Elvis Presley in Baz Luhrmann’s film Elvis — but it turns out he had a little help from someone with manifesting the part. Who? None other than his ex-girlfriend Vanessa Hudgens! While they were still together, the High School Musical alum told Ryan Seacrest on Live with Kelly and Ryan in 2019 that she had been the one to encourage him to play the King of Rock and Roll, explaining:
“Last December, we were driving along and we were listening to Christmas music, and then an Elvis Presley Christmas song came on. He had just dyed his hair dark. He’s a natural blond, blond, and I was looking at him and he was singing along and I was like, ‘Babe, you need to play Elvis.’”
Related: Twitter Calls Out Austin After He Claims Elvis Accent Is A Part Of His ‘DNA’!
She continued:
“And then in January, he was sitting at the piano. And he’s playing and he’s singing and I’m like, ‘I don’t know how, but we need to figure out how you can play Elvis. Like, I don’t know how we get rights or what we do, but you need to play him. It is your calling.’ And then that next month, we get a call saying Baz Luhrmann is doing the Elvis biopic. And I was like, ‘Babe, this is it. This is it.’”
Whoa! Did Vanessa predict the future or put that into the universe?! Either way she was spot on! Elvis has become a massive success for Austin’s career as he earned him his first Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Drama Motion Picture! You can ch-ch-check out the interview (below):
Crazy, right?! However, it looks like the 34-year-old actress won’t be getting a thank you from Austin anytime soon! During The Hollywood Reporter’s Actor Roundtable with Colin Farrell, Brendan Fraser, Jeremy Pope, Ke Huy Quan, and Adam Sandler, he shared a similar story about how he got the part. But according to Austin’s version, “a friend” convinced him to go after the role. The Carrie Diaries actor recalled:
“The month before I heard that Baz [Luhrmann] was making the movie, I was looking at Christmas lights and there was an Elvis Christmas song on the radio and I was with a friend of mine. I was singing along and my friend looked over at me and said, ‘You gotta play Elvis.’ I said, ‘Oh, that’s such a long shot.’”
He added:
“A couple of weeks later, I was playing the piano,’ I never really sang for any of my friends or anything. That same friend was there and I was playing the piano. She said, ‘I’m serious. You gotta figure out how you can get the rights to a script.’ Then my agent called and said, ‘So Baz Luhrmann is making an Elvis film.’”
See? Same exact story. Only he shorthanded his girlfriend of over NINE YEARS as “a friend.” Hilariously, Colin Farrell even asked for this “friend’s” number!
Woooowww. You can hear Austin’s entire recollection of the event (below):
It’s not like people didn’t know he and Vanessa were in a relationship for years or haven’t heard this story before, so why try to play it off as “a friend” manifested this instead of your ex-girlfriend? Was he just abridging the story? Or is he erasing his ex??
Of course, Vanessa’s fans called out Austin for failing to mention the Spring Breakers star when the roundtable discussion dropped on Tuesday. See some of the reactions (below):
“it’s the way austin butler would not have even remotely considered the elvis role without vanessa hudgens and he has said multiple times that she told him to try it one day and now he keeps calling her a friend as if they weren’t the coachella couple for years straight. … like sir lowkey you owe this woman a lot let’s give her a better title. or just use her full government name in interviews babe”
“Thinking about Austin Butler referring to Vanessa Hudgens as a ‘friend’ when she held him down for a decade. Men never fail to surprise me.”
“him calling vanessa hudgens a “friend” PLEASEEEE”
“It’s not a huge deal, but do people really not realize that saying ‘friend’ is disrespectful when someone was an integral part of almost a decade of your life?? Like, he couldnt have said ‘my partner at the time’ or even credited her with ‘vanessa hudgens, my gf at the time’ ??”
“justice for austin butler’s ‘friend’ of almost a decade vanessa hudgens if he doesn’t put some respect on her name i s2g”
“vanessa hudgens could do suspicious minds but austin butler couldn’t do sneaker night”
“Vanessa hudgens and Austin butler dated for 10 years just for him to call her his friend IM SICK”
“#AustinButler, I love you, but you’re trifling. Nine years and #VanessaHudgens was just a friend??? I only knew you as Vanessa’s Coachella boyfriend for a long time. Go win your award and thank Vanessa for directing you to your greatness.”
Meanwhile, others were quick to come to Austin’s defense, writing:
“There’s literally nothing wrong with Austin Butler calling Vanessa a friend that is called GROWTH AND MATURITY. Learn it.”
“Austin Butler did have a career before meeting Vanessa Hudgens what are y’all talking about?”
“coachella lineup was released today vanessa hudgens doesn’t give a f**k abt austin butler referring to her as a friend she’s busy”
We cannot help but wonder what Vanessa thinks about this drama! Reactions, Perezcious readers? Do you think it was shady of Austin to refer to Vanessa as “a friend?” Or do you believe people are making a big deal out of nothing? How would YOU feel? Sound OFF in the comments below!
[Image via The Hollywood Reporter/YouTube, The Drew Barrymore Show/YouTube]