The 'I Will Always Love You' songstress encourages people to 'forgive' Elle and 'forget' the 'America's Sweetheart' singer's drunken performance at her tribute.
- February 14, 2024
AceShowbiz - Dolly Parton has broken her silence on Elle King's drunken performance at her tribute. The "I Will Always Love You" songstress deemed the "America's Sweetheart" singer "a great artist" despite her controversial show less than one month prior.
The 78-year-old country superstar shared her take on Elle taking the stage at a music event, which was held to commemorate her recent birthday, in an interview published on Thursday, February 8. Speaking to ExtraTV, she said, "Elle is really a great artist, she's a great girl."
Seemingly defending Elle, Dolly went on to explain, "And she's been going through a lot of hard things lately and she just had a little too much to drink." Dolly further encouraged people to move on by stating, "So let's just forgive that and forget it and move on cuz she felt worse than anybody ever could."
Dolly's remarks came around three weeks after Elle disappointed fans with her "horrible" performance. On January 19, she performed at the Ryman Auditorium at The Opry. Elle was documented in a video, which was uploaded via TikTok, delivering Dolly's song titled "Marry Me".
In the clip, Elle could be heard singing, "I don't know the lyrics to these things in this f**king town/ Don't tell Dolly 'cus it's her birthday." She went on to tell concertgoers, "I'm not even gonna f**king lie… y'all bought tickets for this s**t, you ain't getting your money back." She then confessed, "I'm gonna tell you one thing more. Hi, my name is Elle King, I'm f**king hammered."
In the wake of Elle's drunken performance, Opry issued an apology to one of the attendees, who complained via social media. The statement read, "Hi Judas, we deeply regret and apologize for the language that was used during last night's second Opry performance."
Opry was replying to the critic who tweeted, "I wish [Lauren Alaina] would've been there because Elle King ruined the night with her horrible, drunk, and profane performance. Dolly Parton would've been mortified. For our first time at The Opry, it was a shame we all had to witness that."
