The relationship between Dolly Parton and Elle King is not one of hostility.
Following her statement that she was “f—ing hammered” and her admission that she forgot the words to Dolly Parton’s “Marry Me” at a Grand Ole Opry performance marking the country icon’s 78th birthday at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville last month, the singer of “Jolene” is now rushing to her defense.
“Elle is really a great artist,” stated Dolly Parton in an interview with Extra about the musician who sings “Ex’s and Oh’s.” The singer is 34 years old. “She’s a great girl, and she’s been going through of hard things lately.”
The celebrity who had previously won a Grammy proceeded by saying, “She just had a little too much to drink, so let’s just forgive that and forget it and move on, because she felt worse than anyone ever could.”
During the event that took place on January 19, which also included performances by Ashley Monroe, Tigirlily Gold, Dailey & Vincent, and Terri Clark, King, who is 34 years old, could be seen in many videos that were uploaded to TikTok engaging in a back-and-forth conversation with members of the crowd on questions regarding refunds.
King seemed to be singing in gibberish, and she proceeded to improvise lines about her not understanding the words to “Marry Me” when she was allegedly inebriated. This led to the exchange.
“I don’t know the lyrics to these things in this f—ing town,” King’s lyrics said. “Don’t tell Dolly ’cause it’s her birthday.”
She continued by saying, “Everyone is like, holy s—, we bought tickets to this s—,” after the song had been performed. “I’m not even going to lie,” she replied as she removed her hands from her pockets and continued to speak. “What the hell is going on? What I’m going to do is not even attempt to lie. Are you all going to get tickets for this s—?
After stating to the audience that they “ain’t gettin’ your money back,” a member of the audience then answered by saying, “I don’t want it.”
It was King who made the remark, “Good, because you ain’t getting it.”
A TikTok user who was there at the concert said that King cursed on stage “about 15 times” before to the interaction with the audience and that she “forgot the words to the Dolly song she was supposed to sing.” The venue then “shut the curtain on her,” as stated by the TikToker.
“Let me tell you one more thing,” she said. I’d like to introduce myself; my name is Elle King, and I’m f—ing blasted,” King remarked.
The event has not been remarked on by a representative of King.
After one of the attendees said that King “ruined the night with her horrible, drunk, and profane performance,” the Grand Ole Opry replied to the concerns of the audience on X (which was then known as Twitter) the following day. The Grand Ole Opry called it “a shame we all had to witness that.”
“Hi Judas, we deeply regret and apologize for the language that was used during last night’s second Opry performance,” the Opry responded with a written statement.
Within a few days of the tragedy, King postponed a number of future gigs to take place later on in this year.
In a prior interview with the San Diego Tribune in 2022, King discussed the topic of playing while intoxicated. She said that she does not want to get as intoxicated on stage as she used to be.
“It’s easier for me to say: ‘Yeah, I want to drink and party and [then] go on stage,'” said the performer. “Before I go on stage, I have a couple of drinks because I tend to get nervous before taking the stage.” When I sing, drinking helps me feel less anxious about hitting the notes at the right time. It won’t hurt as much if I don’t put forth the effort to produce them.
It was also stated by King that she prioritizes “being a mother way, way, way above having a good time.” Daniel Tooker is the father of the singer’s first child, Lucky Levi, who is two years old.
In the event that you or someone you know is battling with drug misuse, please call the SAMHSA hotline at 1-800-662-HELP.