Showing support.
If anyone knows about the horrors of public embarrassment, it’s Elle King. Last year, King hit a low when she performed at the Ryman for The Grand Ole Opry’s Opry Goes Dolly tribute drunk as a skunk. She cussed on stage, forgot words, and made a fool of herself. Not only did this moment upset country music fans and parents, but also Dolly Parton’s sister (Dolly forgave King, of course, because she is a saint).
@traveler_bex #Elleking ruins #dollyparton birthday bash in #nashville ♬ original sound – Bex
After the incident, King admitted herself to a “therapeutic program” and admitted that she had hit rock bottom. With some time having passed, King wrote her wrongs and found humor in the situation by penning a song, “Banned From The Grand Ole Opry.” She has since bounced back. Having learned from her experience, King is now offering a helping hand to another artist who fell from grace similarly.
Last year, Ingrid Andress had a similar drunken performance as she botched the national anthem before the MLB Home Run Derby. Andress too admitted this was her rock bottom, also entering a rehab program after the horrific performance.
“I’m not gonna bullsh*t y’all, I was drunk last night. I’m checking myself into a facility today to get the help I need. That was not me last night. I apologize to MLB, all the fans, and this country I love so much for that rendition. I’ll let y’all know how rehab is. I hear it’s super fun.”
Seven months later, Andress triumphantly returned to the limelight by releasing her new single, “Footprints,” and performing the “Star Spangled Banner” ahead of the puck drop at the Colorado Avalanche/Minnesota Wild hockey game. Although the public collectively agreed that maybe the national anthem was not the song for her after the secondary performance, she gave it a go and showed the world that she was back in action.
Ingrid Andress fumbled another anthem. pic.twitter.com/oVKxMoQaGo
— Avalanche Forever (@citchmook) March 1, 2025
After her return performance, Andress has also been doing press, talking about the embarrassing moment and how she is recovering from it. On her recent sit-down on the Viall Files podcast, host Nick Viall asked Andress if anyone had reached out to her after the incident. And as it turns out, quite a few people reached out, but one was particularly surprising:
“That was actually the other really meaningful thing that happened after the anthem. I was expecting no one to reach out or to…but there was just so much outpouring of love from female country artists in Nashville, and I actually felt loved and seen going into rehab.
Like, Elle King was like, ‘This is just all part of it, girl.’ And like, she’s obviously been there before, too. And Kelsea Ballerini was like, ‘Welcome to, you know, the worst parts of the job.’ And it was mostly women like Karen Fairchild from Little Big Town.
And that really meant a lot to me because I feel like women in country music have had to stick together based on very obvious things because it’s a very male-dominated genre. But for them to be like, ‘Hey, we’ve all been there.’ It was really meaningful.”
The most shocking person to contact her was Carlos Santana, who even sent her flowers:
“Had never spoken to him before in my life! And he asked my management like, ‘Hey, can I get Ingrid’s number?’ I was like, ‘Hello?’ I was like in rehab… But he was so kind and so supportive and was like, ‘If you ever want to do a song, you know where to find me.’ And he sent me flowers.”
All that support had to have compensated for Andress’ admission that she felt like “America’s punching bag” after the incident.
It’s only up from here, Ingrid…
While you’re here, check out the Viall Files episode.
