A class act as always.
Dolly Parton is speaking out on her perspective when it comes to Elle King’s disastrous performance on the Grand Ole Opry during the Opry’s Opry Goes Dolly tribute to Dolly Parton on the legend’s 78th birthday in January.
After appearing on the early show to perform “Jolene,” which went off without issue, King returned for the second show of the evening visibly intoxicated and started out her performance by slurring her way through Dolly’s “Marry Me” from her 2001 album Little Sparrow.
@traveler_bex #Elleking ruins #dollyparton birthday bash in #nashville ♬ original sound – Bex
King forgot the words to the song while telling the crowd in the middle of the song that she went to nearby Robert’s Western World:
“I went to Robert’s…I don’t give a sh*t…
Don’t tell Dolly. Holy sh*t. I swear to God if you guys tell Dolly…”
And it didn’t get any better from there. After the song, Elle unleashed a profanity-laced rant on the hallowed stage of the Ryman:
“Everyone’s like, ‘Holy sh*t, we bought tickets for this sh*t?’ I’m not even gonna lie. I’m not even gonna lie.
Holy sh*t. I’m not even gonna f*ckin’ lie. Y’all bought tickets for this sh*t? You ain’t gettin’ your money back.
I’ll tell you one thing that’s true. I’ll tell you one thing more.
Hi, my name is Elle King. I’m f*cking hammered.”
@steveh881 Elle King at the Grand Ole Opry#elleking #grandoleopry #dollyparton #drunk #whatshappening #wow #sad #foruyou #viral #viralvideo #trend #fypp #views ♬ Drunk (And I Don’t Wanna Go Home) – Elle King & Miranda Lambert
Yeah, it was bad… really bad.
And of course, the story went mega viral, and Elle has subsequently canceled all of her previously-scheduled concerts until March. Elle nor her team have issued any sort of statement, and more importantly, an apology, for what happened, but I’m sure that’s coming eventually (hopefully).
But Dolly being the queen that she is has already forgiven Elle and moved on, and is encouraging others to do the same. In an interview with Extra over the weekend, Dolly gracefully explained that Elle is a “really great artist,” and she has been going through a lot lately.
She says that Elle “felt worse than anybody ever could,” and obviously, I don’t think Dolly took the fiasco personally at all (unlike her sister, Stella Parton):
“Elle is really a great artist, she’s a great girl. And she’s been going through a lot of hard things lately, and she just had a little too much to drink.
So let’s just forgive that and forget it and move on, ‘cuz she felt worse than anybody ever could.”
The queen has spoken, and I think we should all take note and follow her lead here. You can check out the interview below:
