Austin Butler may have been the last person expecting to go viral for his dance moves but one unforgettable night at Bad Bunny’s Puerto Rico residency made it happen.
The Elvis star 33, opened up about the now-famous moment during the Tuesday, August 12 episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, explaining how he found himself swaying to the beat onstage with his Caught Stealing costar, Bad Bunny (real name Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio), 31 and why a certain pre-show snack played a big role.
According to Butler, the evening began innocently enough. Bad Bunny had invited him and Caught Stealing director Darren Aronofsky to attend one of his residency performances. Butler assumed they would be enjoying the show from the audience, but soon realized the plan was very different.
“He’s telling me about the run of the show, and I thought we were just going to be part of the crowd,” Butler recalled. “Next thing I know, we’re in this prop house and at one point in the concert, Benito comes there to perform. Right before the show, someone gave me an edible. I thought it was a good idea at the time. It was not.”
For someone who admits he doesn’t like being the center of attention “I don’t even like people singing Happy Birthday to me,” Butler confessed the situation quickly became surreal.
“So suddenly I’m on stage with Bad Bunny, and the edible is working,” Butler said with a laugh. “It was wild. My brain was in two movies. One part of me was thinking, ‘We had lunch earlier, I’m just so proud of him.’ I’m watching him and thinking, ‘Oh my God, look how much he means to everyone here.’ I’m falling in love with Puerto Rican culture, the music, the dancing, everyone’s so sexy and amazing.”
The other part of his brain, however, was focused on damage control: “Don’t dance, because you’ll take attention away from him. This is his moment.” Despite his intentions, the music was too good to resist. A viral clip captured Butler shimmying to the rhythm with a grin on his face though he insists he kept it subtle.
“I wanted to hide, but I ended up just swaying my hips while crossing my arms,” he explained. “For whatever reason, every time I uncrossed my arms, I felt like I was drawing attention to myself. So I thought, ‘This is okay.’”
Part of Butler’s caution came from a recent celebrity moment he didn’t want to repeat Ben Affleck’s 2023 Grammys appearance alongside Jennifer Lopez, where the actor was widely meme’d for looking less than thrilled.
“You don’t want to be the sad guy,” Butler joked. “But you also don’t want to be the guy who’s dancing crazy and drawing all the attention.”
Jimmy Fallon 49, related to the story, admitting he’d had a similar experience attending a Harry Styles concert. While Butler might have been worried about stealing the spotlight, the internet had no complaints. Fans praised his easygoing moves and genuine enjoyment of the moment, edible or not.