After nearly two months, Elle King is finally speaking out about the storm she stirred up with her “sledgehammer” tribute to Dolly Parton at the Grand Ole Opry on Jan. 19… and it's not the apology tour some celebrities were going to embark on. From a similar controversy.
“Oh, that wasn't my human show,” King posted on her Instagram account Sunday morning. Additionally, she wrote: “To everyone who has shown me love because I am human and actually talked to Dolly: I love you. To everyone who told me to kill myself: I love you too.”
These messages were accompanied by a short video clip showing her climbing the stairs in a courtyard, likely as part of an exercise routine. The clear message in the video: She is healthy and in excellent condition.
King had postponed the rest of her January and February concerts in the wake of the uproar that ensued after she ruined a Parton tribute and slugged her way through a usually sober Opry broadcast. There was speculation that she might apologize and announce that she had taken six weeks off from the tour to seek treatment, as is the custom of stars who fall into embarrassing moments while under the influence of alcohol. But, in keeping with the outlaw country image she's fostered since crossing the rocks, King took a somewhat more defiant tone than expected, to the point where she addressed the matter at all.
In another Instagram message, posted on Saturday after her C2C Festival concert at London's O2 Arena, the singer wrote: “I'm totally drunk and don't want to go home” (echoing the title of her No. 1 country duet with Miranda). Lambert, “Drunk (And I Don't Want to Go Home)”).
She also indirectly addressed the controversy in an Instagram post earlier in the week, with a photo that showed King curled up in a fetal position wearing a heavy coat on a couch backstage, with a sarcastic overlay: “People are being mean in my DMs, I guess I'm just sitting like that. ” “…when I'm really sitting like this,” she added in a second photo of an almost identical pose. Caption on the photo: “If only they knew.” And once again, King's clear message: She is not ashamed or cowered after controversy.
The anxiety arose — and, as King points out, with no small amount of disdain — after a disastrous Opry performance in which the singer forgot the lyrics to Parton's “Marry Me” and began singing impromptu lines like “I don't care.” “And 'I don't know the words to this stuff in this damn town… Don't tell Dolly because it's her birthday.'” She joked as she spoke to the audience between songs. “Hi, my name is Elle King and I'm a mess.”
There was subsequent speculation among radio columnists that the Grand Ole Opry could be subject to a hefty fine from the FCC for broadcasting profanity on the air. Some country music fans who attended the live show at the Opry House were vocally angry on social media about King's performance, leading to a formal apology on X/Twitter to those in attendance from the Opry. But so far there have been no reports of complaints from radio listeners leading to any FCC investigation.
Parton had expressed his forgiveness after the incident and urged fans to do the same, telling Extra in January: “Elle is a really great artist. She's a great girl, and she's been through a lot of tough things lately. And she's been drinking too much, so let's forgive that.” And we forget about it and move on, because she felt worse than everyone else.
After taking a hiatus from touring, King resurfaced with a new look when she played the Extra Innings Festival in Arizona earlier this month (pictured above). She also performed without incident as an opening act for Chris Stapleton's All-American Road Show at Petco Park in San Diego before heading to Europe for a series of shows.
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