Vanessa Hudgens Appears to Address Awkward Austin Butler Run-In

According to Us Weekly, the online hubbub began after the 34-year-old actress was spotted outside of Vanity Fair's star-studded afterparty for the 2023 Oscars, where she appeared to completely ignore the Elvis star, 31.

In a series of now-viral paparazzi photos, Hudgens can be seen walking past actress Sharon Stone and her former beau of 8 years as he waves to fans across the street. And with her head bowed and gaze fixated on her phone, her body language suggests that she was giving Butler the cold shoulder, which fans believed was another instance of the star throwing shade at her Elvis-obsessed ex, especially since he does seem to glance in her direction.

That said, Hudgens now appears to be addressing the "awkward" situation by using another viral moment from earlier that night, where Oscars host Jimmy Kimmel asks Malala Yousafzai for her opinion on Harry Styles allegedly spitting on Don't Worry Darling co-star Chris Pine at the film's premiere last September. However, the ever-classy Malala declined to take part in the drama by responding with a simple "I only talk about peace" — and her diplomatic answer obviously resonated with Hudgens.

“Let’s all be on the ‘I only talk about peace’ train,” the High School Musical star captioned alongside a post about the moment. “OK?"

Hudgens' cryptic message comes on the heels of her saying that she was "crying" at a comment about Butler refusing to drop the accent he used to for his role as the King of Rock n' Roll in Baz Luhrmann's Elvis biopic. Not only that, but the Best Actor nominee also referred to Hudgens as a "friend" during an roundtable interview with the Hollywood Reporter, which fans said was a "disrespectful" way to talk about the long-term ex who encouraged him to pursue the role in the first place.

Butler has yet to comment on the alleged snub. In the meantime though, you can read Us Weekly's entire report about Hudgens' apparent response here.

Photos via Getty / Jeff Kravitz / FilmMagic & Karwai Tang / WireImage