Elle King Breaks Silence After Drunken Performance at Dolly Parton Tribute Show

Elle King has a message for her fans and haters after drawing controversy over a performance at the Grand Ole Opry's Dolly Parton birthday tribute event in January.

By Corinne Heller Mar 11, 2024 12:47 AMTags
Watch: Dolly Parton Reveals What She Told Elle King After Birthday Tribute Drama (Exclusive)

Elle King is speaking out following backlash over her performance at the Grand Old Opry's Dolly Parton 78th birthday tribute show.

The "Ex's & Oh's" singer, who had during the January event told the audience she was "hammered," shared the same message to both her supporters and haters.

"To everyone sending me love," Elle wrote in an Instagram post shared March 10, "Because I'm human and already talked to Dolly. I love you."

The 34-year-old continued, "To everyone who told me to k*ll myself, I love you too."

Elle, who took a break from touring after the incident but resumed her concerts March 1, included in her Instagram post a video of herself working out in an arena, running up a flight of stairs while wearing a pair of headphones. She set the clip to Able Heart's 2023 song "Masterpiece." She captioned the post, "Oh no was my human showing. #WWDD"

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During her drunken performance at the Dolly birthday tribute, Elle appeared to forget the words to the country music icon's 2001 hit "Marry Me" and started swearing on stage. She also addressed the audience, saying, "You ain't getting your money back."

The Grand Ole Opry later said in an X post, "We deeply regret and apologize for the language that was used during last night's second Opry performance."

Instagram / Elle King

In February, Dolly herself told E! News that she reached out to Elle amid the controversy.

Mike Marsland/WireImage / Weiss Eubanks/NBCUniversal via Getty Images

"Elle King is a doll," the "9 to 5" singer told E! News exclusively on the red carpet at Dolly Parton's Pet Gala. "I called her, and I said, 'You know, there are many F-words. Why don't we use the right one? Forgiveness, friends, forget it.'"

Dolly said Elle "made a mistake," adding, "She feels worse about it than anybody. But she's a talented girl. She's going through some hard times, and I think she just had a little too much to drink and then that just hit her. So, we need to get over that because she's a great artist and a great person." 

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