The Grand Ole Opry has apologized to fans after Elle King, who described herself as “(expletive) hammered,” cussed and flubbed her way through a Dolly Parton song in a tribute to her Friday night.
During the performance, King, who is the daughter of comedian Rob Schneider, forgot the Parton song she was supposed to sing as part of a birthday salute to the country legend.
“We deeply regret and apologize for the language that was used during last night’s second Opry performance,” the Opry’s account on X (formerly Twitter) said Saturday.
According to NBC, the statement came in response to an attendee at the Ryman Auditorium performance who wrote on X, “Elle King ruined the night with her horrible, drunk, and profane performance. Dolly Parton would’ve been mortified. For our first time at the Opry, it was a shame we all had to witness that… It was such a disappointment to spend $300 on tickets for a show where one of the artists ruined an entire night.”
King seemed to forget the lyrics to the Parton song “Marry Me,” and instead inserted curse words. As the crowd grew restless, King said,
“I don’t know the lyrics to these things in this (expletive) town/Don’t tell Dolly ‘cause it’s her birthday.” Addressing the audience in a singsong manner, she ontinued: “I’m not even gonna (expletive) lie … y’all bought tickets for this (expletive), you ain’t getting your money back,” The Tennessean reported.
Then, she added: “I’ll tell you one thing more … hi, my name is Elle King. I’m (expletive) hammered.”
A bandmate suggested she do an original song instead of a Parton cover, and King reportedly responded, “I can barely play another person’s song, let me see if I can play one of mine.”
Multiple TikToks have emerged of the performance showing what appears to be King mumbling and swearing through the performance to honor Parton.
Parton was not at the Opry on Friday.
King had a hit with a duet with Miranda Lambert called “Drunk (And I Don’t Wanna Go Home),” which reached No. 1 on the country airplay chart.
King talked about drinking before performing in an interview with the San Diego Union-Tribune in 2022.
“I really like to drink and sing” King said, adding, “I don’t want to get as drunk as I used to… I get nervous before I go on stage, [so] I have a couple of drinks [first]. Drinking makes me less nervous about hitting the notes when I sing. If I don’t make them, it won’t sting as much.”
But, she added, “This (upcoming) tour will be very different for me, because I put being a mother way, way, way above having a good time. And I’ve had enough good times. I want to bring my family on this tour, so maybe talk to me in a year and see where I’m at.”
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