API Gateway HTTP API VpcLink + stageVariables bug

I built HTTP API and created a VPC link and then I was not able to delete VPC link due to

deleting API Gateway v2 VPC Link (s1obss): BadRequestException: Cannot delete vpc link. Vpc link 's1obss', is referenced in [ANY:mjwjk5c] in format of [Method:Resource].

Known issues suggest I should use a stageVariable - but it seems to be only applicable for REST API because I am 100% confident it does not work with HTTP API.

https://docs.aws.amazon.com/apigateway/latest/developerguide/api-gateway-known-issues.html

Please let me know if I am doing something wrong or is this really a service bug.