Gwen Stefani Replaces Ex Gavin Rossdale With Blake Shelton in Throwback Photo

Gwen Stefani performed at the ACM Awards on Wednesday night with boyfriend Blake Shelton, and before the show, she posted a throwback photo advertising the performance. The snap was of a young Stefani wearing a crop top, jeans and a black jacket, with a younger Shelton wearing a brown suede jacket, a black shirt and a black cowboy hat and sporting a curly mullet edited in next to her.

“#datenight [ACM Awards] [with] my boo [Blake Shelton] gx,” Stefani captioned the image. While many fans simply enjoyed the edited throwback, others were quick to point out that the original person in the photo with Stefani had been her ex-husband Gavin Rossdale. Stefani had previously posted the image in 2014 to celebrate a wedding anniversary with Rossdale, and fans couldn’t help but detect some perceived shade with the new version of the photo.

“Gavin is literally out the picture. Blake and you look adorable together,” one fan wrote with many echoing the observation. “CAN YOU HEAR ME SCREAMING,” another fan exclaimed. “What an incredible upgrade from the original too.” Stefani and Rossdale married in 2002 and split in 2015 and share three sons, Kingston, 14, Zuma, 12, and Apollo, 6.

During the ACM Awards, Stefani and Shelton performed their current duet, “Happy Anywhere,” performing in front of a green screen in Los Angeles that was made to appear as if they were at The Bluebird Café in Nashville, where several performances were held on Wednesday night. Stefani wore a white pair of shorts, jean jacket with gold tassels, fishnet tights and cowboy boots.

“I hope everyone out there is doing their best to stay healthy,” Shelton told viewers before the performance. “Gwen and I wish that we could be in Nashville tonight, but we couldn’t. But, through the magic of television, voila! Welcome back to the Bluebird Cafe, everybody.”

Also during the show, the Oklahoma native won the award for Single of the Year for “God’s Country,” and he thanked his girlfriend in his acceptance speech, which was also broadcast from LA. “Holy cow, single of the year! This is a complete shock and an absolute honor,” he said, thanking producer Scott Hendricks, his record label, Warner Music Nashville and country radio.

“Thank you to my management and thank you to the fans and thank you Gwen Stefani for continuing to encourage me to keep doing this and keep trying and being my inspiration,” he continued. “And thank you, God. Thank you, everybody, Single of the Year! Yes!”