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About two weeks ago, Austin Butler announced that he would finally be “getting rid” of the Southern drawl he adopted for his Oscar-nominated role as Elvis Presley in Baz Lurhmann’s Elvis. So when the actor appeared on the latest episode of First We Feast’s “Hot Ones,” the question on viewers’ minds was not whether his taste buds could handle some scorching hot wings but whether he had truly left his Elvis accent behind.
The answer is… he’s working on it. From this interview, it sounds like he’s lost a little bit of the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll’s Memphis twang. However, that husky baritone is still very present throughout the episode’s almost 30-minute runtime. It turns out Da’ Bomb hot sauce can’t instantly reset someone’s vocal cords.
To be fair, the Best Actor nominee didn’t specify when he was getting rid of the accent—hopefully, not before awards season ends—just that he would ditch it eventually. Butler might have also filmed this episode before he declared to the world, seemingly out of peer pressure, that he would stop this hilarious act of cultural appropriation. Or maybe this tone—the deepness, at least—is just the natural progression of his voice as a 31-year-old man. Either way, we support your journey, Austin!