What did Elle King do at the Opry? Dolly Parton drama explored as singer postpones show amid backlash  

Elle King garnered immense criticism online after butchering her tribute to Dolly Parton at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville. The singer seemingly admitted to being inebriated on stage as she sang Parton's songs incoherently. As King began garnering backlash on social media, the Opry and Parton’s sister released a statement to address her performance.

In video clips of the tribute concert that took place on Friday, January 19, in honor of Dolly Parton's 78th birthday, Elle King admitted to not knowing the lyrics to the country legend's songs on stage. She also said:

“Y’all bought tickets for this s**t? You ain’t getting your money back… I’ll tell you one thing more. Hi, my name is Elle King and I’m f**king hammered.”

At one instance, King was singing a Parton classic, and she interrupted her band to say,

“How does Dolly sing this s**t?”

When her bandmates asked her to perform one of her own songs, King responded:

“I’ll tell you one thing, I can barely play another person’s song. Let’s see if I can play one of mine.”

Following the incident, Billy Bob’s Texas venue released a statement announcing that King’s January 26th concert was postponed to September 21, as per Billboard. Details about why the dates were changed were not made public at the time of writing this article. However, one can assume that it is possibly due to the backlash she received for Parton’s birthday tribute.

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What did Dolly Parton’s sister say about Elle King’s performance?

On January 22, Stella Parton, Dolly’s younger sister, took to X to point out the hypocrisy of the Opry, releasing a statement after Elle King appeared to be inebriated on stage. Stella opined that numerous other male singers have behaved the same way on stage in the past.

However, Stella also noted that the Ex’s and Oh’s singer should have done her “homework” before paying tribute to Dolly on stage. Stella Parton said in her statement:

“To any lil ego thinking they can learn the lyrics correctly with a half a*sed listen to one of Dolly’s song. Surprise! You’ll end up looking as silly as that lil girl. Do your homework people. Memorize the lyrics to Jolene or COMC. My sister loves words. A brilliant word smith.”

While seemingly throwing shade at King, Stella also responded to a tweet that read, “Who is Elle King???” by saying, “That’s what I said.”

Stella Parton addresses the controversial performance (Image via StellaParton/X)

The Grand Ole Opry also responded to a tweet that criticized King’s performance.

“We deeply regret and apologize for the language that was used during last night’s second Opry performance," the concert venue wrote on X.

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“Where has Country Music gone? It’s unrecognizable”: Netizens express disappointment over Elle King’s tribute performance

Social media users were shocked by the 34-year-old King's performance. Many opined that it was disrespectful to Parton and endlessly dissed the singer. A few tweets read:

Netizens react to the tributary performance (Image via X)

Netizens react to the tributary performance (Image via X)

Netizens react to the tributary performance (Image via X)

Netizens react to the tributary performance (Image via X)

Netizens react to the tributary performance (Image via X)

Netizens react to the tributary performance (Image via X)

At the time of writing this article, neither Parton nor King had addressed the latter’s performance.