“Elle is really a great artist,” Parton said of the 34-year-old musician in an interview with Extra. “She’s a great girl, and she’s been going through a lot of hard things lately.”
Dolly Parton is breaking her silence on Elle King’s drunken tribute at the Grand Ole Opry last month.
In an interview with Extra, Parton came to King’s defense, calling the “Ex’s and Oh’s” singer a “great artist.”
“She’s a great girl, and she’s been going through a lot of hard things lately,” Parton told the outlet.
The Grammy-winning superstar continued, “She just had a little too much to drink, so let’s just forgive that and forget it and move on, ’cause she felt worse than anyone ever could.”
It all went down January 19, when King told patrons she was “f—ing hammered” and admitted to forgetting the lyrics to Parton’s “Marry Me” during a performance celebrating the country icon’s 78th birthday at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville.
The concert, which featured performances from Ashley Monroe, Tigirlily Gold, Dailey & Vincent and Terri Clark, saw King seemingly singing in gibberish before firing off expletives.
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At one point, King even mocked the fans for purchasing tickets to the show, explaining, “I’m not even gonna f–king lie… y’all bought tickets for this s–t, you ain’t getting your money back.”
One fan shouted a response, “I don’t want it,” prompting King to reply, “Good, ’cause you ain’t getting it.”
“I’ll tell you one thing more… hi, my name is Elle King. I’m f–king, hammered,” she added.
One day later, the Grand Ole Opry responded to fan concerns on X (née Twitter), after one attendee said King “ruined the night with her horrible, drunk, and profane performance,” calling it “a shame we all had to witness that.”
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“Hi Judas, we deeply regret and apologize for the language that was used during last night’s second Opry performance,” the Opry wrote in response.
While neither King nor Parton addressed the incident at the time, the “Jolene” singer’s sister, Stella, weighed in on the controversy, calling King a “hillbilly.”
King rescheduled her upcoming shows just days later, with the musician’s reps telling TMZ that she was forced to postpone due to “unforeseen circumstances,” before noting that they wouldn’t be commenting any further on the matter.
