“Elvis” Movie Star Austin Butler Sings “Blue Christmas” On SNL

Austin Butler earned rave reviews for his portrayal of Elvis Presley in the Baz Luhrmann-directed Elvis movie. Members of the Presley family loved his performance too, including Elvis’ daughter, Lisa Marie.

“In my humble opinion, his performance is unprecedented and FINALLY done accurately and respectfully,” Lisa Marie said in a post on social media. “(If he doesn’t get an Oscar for this, I will eat my own foot, haha.)“

While the Oscar nominations have not been announced yet, two other awards shows have named Austin as a nominee. He just received Best Actor nominations from the Golden Globe Awards and the Critics Choice Awards.

 

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To add to this exciting time, Austin was the host of Saturday Night Live over the weekend. Since the show occurred the week before Christmas, Austin performed “Blue Christmas” while he was there.

As you likely know, Elvis recorded what is arguably the most recognizable rendition of “Blue Christmas.” While his recording is considered iconic today, it didn’t receive a positive response from everyone after its initial release.

Priscilla Presley spoke about the negative responses to Elvis’ “Blue Christmas” in a 2017 interview:

“I know it caused quite a stir on his first album, ‘Elvis’ Christmas,’ back in the day,” Priscilla said. “Because that’s exactly what people were talking about, was how, you know, he was affecting our youth, his morals were terrible, he was the devil because of the way he moved. So I’m sure, which it did, cause a lot of stir back in the day.”

When Austin performed “Blue Christmas” on SNL, he did so as an ode to departing cast member Cecily Strong. He changed some of the lyrics to address her leaving the show, singing, “You’ll be doing all right / Every Saturday night / But I’ll have a blue, blue, blue, blue Christmas.”

Of course, Austin performed the song in Elvis’ signature style. His performance featured several members of the SNL cast, including Cecily herself.

This was a special moment for fans of the Elvis movie, since Austin never performed “Blue Christmas” in the film.

Viewers seemed to love the performance. As of this writing, the video has over 594,000 views on YouTube alone. Check it out below.

We’re glad we got the chance to hear Austin sing in Elvis’ style again!