Every artist wants their moment in the spotlight, but not the way Elle King had hers last year. King made headlines in 2024 for a drunken performance at the Grand Ole Opry, in tribute to Dolly Parton, for Parton's 78th birthday.
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For King, it was one of the worst moments of her life.
"I never want to cry like that in a car ride home," she says on Bunnie Xo's Dumb Blonde podcast (via People). "I never want to wake up feeling like that ever again; I never want to feel that shame."
King knows exactly how it happened, a mistake she will likely never, ever repeat again.
"I played two shows that day ... The first show was great," she remembers. "It was perfect."
King goes on to say that she had not eaten, nor slept in several days, due to her high anxiety.
"I took one shot of tequila when I had been drinking a martini," King says, adding that she had lost a lot of weight, making her"the tiniest" she had ever been. By her own admission, King remembers little of her second performance.
"Boom, I come to and like, the curtain's down, and it sucks. It's awful," she says.
Elle King Recalls Dolly Parton's Response To Her Drunken Performance
Not surprisingly, it didn't take long for music fans to blast King online, with many suggesting she be permanently banned from the Grand Ole Opry. But the person who could have been the most offended is the one who also extended the most grace. Parton called King to make sure she knew that there were no hard feelings.
"Anytime Dolly Parton calls you is cool ... but I didn't want it to be under those circumstances," King says.
"She called me to make me feel better," she adds.
Parton also publicly spoke out in defense of King, shortly after the incident occurred.
"Elle is really a great artist," Parton tells Extra. "She's a great girl, and she's been going through hard things lately... 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."
Fortunately, it seems the Grand Ole Opry has forgiven as well.
"I've spoken to everyone at the Opry and they said that I'm not banned," King says.
