Elle King caused quite the furor among fans at the Grand Ole Opry on Friday, when she appeared ‘hammered’ during a performance.
The 34-year-old singer and daughter of Rob Schneider performed at Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry in Ryman Auditorium as part of a show honoring Dolly Parton on her 78th birthday, though the country legend herself wasn’t in attendance.
King was seen slurring her words and saying the F-word multiple times during the set, before admitting on stage she was, ‘hammered.’
‘We deeply regret and apologize for the language that was used during last night’s second Opry performance,’ the venue said in an apologetic statement.
King has not publicly addressed the incident either in a statement or through social media quite yet.
Elle King caused quite the furor among fans at the Grand Ole Opry on Friday, when she appeared ‘hammered’ during a performance
The 34-year-old singer and daughter of Rob Schneider performed at Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry in Ryman Auditorium as part of a show honoring Dolly Parton on her 78th birthday, though the country legend herself wasn’t in attendance
King was seen slurring her words and saying the F-word multiple times during the set, before admitting on stage she was, ‘hammered’
The apology was attached to a tweet from an upset fan, who wrote, ‘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… It was such a disappointment to spend $300 on tickets for a show where one of the artists ruined an entire night.’
A TikTok video from @auctioneergirl showed King performing Parton’s 2001 song Marry Me, when she seemed to forget the lyrics.
Instead, she sung, ‘I don’t know the lyrics to these things in this f***ing town… Don’t tell Dolly ‘cause it’s her birthday.’
She then started seemingly antagonizing the fans, saying, ‘You spent money for this s**t?’
After a fan started yelling at her, King openly declared she was drunk on stage, which didn’t sit well with fans.
‘You ain’t getting your money back. I’ll tell you one thing more: “Hi, my name is Elle King [and] I’m f***ing hammered,”‘ she said on stage.
One of her band mates suggested they play one of her songs, as King responded, ‘I can barely play another person’s song, let me see if I can play one of mine.’
The Opry Goes Dolly show also featured Ashley Monroe, Tigirlily Gold, Dailey & Vincent and Terri Clark, with fans blasting King on social media.
‘Elle King disrespected the Ryman and Dolly Parton,’ a TikTok user added on the social media platform.
While King has not addressed that performance, she has talked about her drinking in the past, insisting she can control it. She is pictured here drinking on stage in January last year
While King has not addressed that performance, she has talked about her drinking in the past, insisting she can control it.
‘I really like to drink and sing. I don’t want to get as drunk as I used to,’ King said in a 2022 interview.
‘It’s easier for me to say: “Yeah, I want to drink and party and [then] go on stage.” I get nervous before I go on stage, [so] I have couple of drinks [first],’ she said.
‘Drinking makes me less nervous about hitting the notes when I sing. If I don’t make them, it won’t sting as much,’ she clarified.
King released her first single – Good to Be a Man – in 2012, with her first album, The Elle King LP, released that year, as she was named an Artist to Watch by Esquire.
While King started her career as a rock artist, with her breakthrough 2014 hit Ex’s and Oh’s, she fully switched to country music with her third album, 2023’s Come Get Your Wife.
The singer was married to Andrew Ferguson from 2016 to 2017 but they never shared any children.