Grand Ole Opry apologises for Elle King’s performance at Dolly Parton birthday concert
Country music cornerstone, the Grand Ole Opry, has issued an apology in the wake of a recent performance by Elle King, during a birthday celebration for Dolly Parton on January 19th.
While Parton was not in attendance, The Opry had organised a tribute concert for her 78th birthday, featuring performances from various big names in country music, including Elle King. Her performance caused a stir among the all-ages crowd after the country rock star admitted to being “fucking hammered”.
Covering the classic Dolly hit ‘Marry Me’, King’s set took a nosedive as the singer revealed she could not remember the lyrics, saying, “I don’t know the lyrics to these things in this fucking town”.
Continuing in her onstage rant, King said, “Don’t tell Dolly ‘cus it’s her birthday. I’m not even gonna fucking lie…y’all bought tickets for this shit, you ain’t getting your money back – and I’m gonna tell you one thing more: Hi, my name is Elle King, I’m fucking hammered.”
In footage of the set shared on social media following the gig, the crowd seem to take it in their stride, laughing and cheering at King as she abandons ‘Marry Me’ for one of her own compositions. Nevertheless, outraged country fans took to the internet to complain.
While this is far from the biggest controversy country music, or the Grand Ole Opry, has faced, The Opry apologised for the offence caused by King’s set. Responding to a Tweet, the venue said, “We deeply regret and apologize for the language that was used during last night’s second Opry performance.”
Meanwhile, last year, Parton released her latest studio album Rockstar. In a four-and-a-half star review, Far Out wrote: “Rockstar feels like an alternative timeline, soundtracking what would’ve happened if, somewhere down the line, Dolly Parton picked up an electric guitar and waltzed on down a different path. Proving what we all already knew, that she has one of the greatest voices in history regardless of genre, Rockstar is Parton finally playing out her daydreams.”
Watch a clip from King’s performance below.
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