Conan Gray went full theater kid for his MTV VMAs 2025 performance, referencing Romeo and Juliet with his special guest, none other than actor Corey Fogelmanis.
During his dramatic performance at the VMAs 2025 on Sunday, September 7, Gray turned to his close friend and repeated collaborator (and muse) Fogelmanis for help in bringing his hit song “Vodka Cranberry” to life.
Against the backdrop of a smoky garden, Conan Gray and Corey Fogelmanis played out the final scene of Romeo and Juliet, with Fogelmanis playing the tragic Juliet to Gray's Romeo. In billowing shirts and dark maroon capes, the two looked like they jumped straight out of the 16th century, fully immersing us in the onstage world building.
Before Gray began to sing, he held the My Life with the Walter Boys actor's head in his hands before gently placing him back down on Juliet's stone slab — it was only right, then, that Gray ended the song by mimicking Romeo's final move, downing a red elixir and “dying” with his beloved.
The tragically moving performance is going to do nothing to quell those Reddit theories about their possible romance, especially after Gray and Fogelmanis sparked even more dating rumors on social media when they arrived together on the red carpet.
But let's slow down before we start to use the pair's latest creative collaboration as fuel for their relationship lore. In a recent widespread interview with Teen Vogue, Corey Fogelmanis confirmed that he and Conan Gray were just friends, and that he currently has a boyfriend.
The pair have worked together several times, though, with Fogelmanis playing Gray's romantic interest in several dreamy and passionate music videos. The characters they play in the Wishbone visuals have taken on a life of their own, with fans latching onto the idea that the songs are about their characters (and, in turn, sometimes Gray and Fogelmanis) instead of Gray's other real-life experiences.
“It's so funny because when we made the videos, we had kind of come up with this concept for the character and the stories,” Fogelmanis told Teen Vogue exclusively. “But the way the videos came together made it [so that] people have really taken to the lore. He literally said to me, ‘People are talking about the songs as if they're about these characters, as if I wrote these songs about Will and Bran.’ And he's so happy about that… So I think it means we did a good job.”
“I just love being friends with creative people because it's just so interesting to see how they make things, and what they think,” Fogelmanis clarified to us. So let's just enjoy the Shakespearean cosplay, shall we?
Watch Conan Gray and Corey Fogelmanis perform “Vodka Cranberry” at the VMAs 2025 below:
