Elle King forgot the lyrics to Dolly Parton's "Marry Me" during a Dolly Parton tribute at the Grand Ole Opry on Dolly's 78th birthday, Friday, January 19. Multiple videos shared to TikTok and other platforms show the singer, who is the daughter of comedian Rob Schneider and former model and actress London King, performing the cover in a way that many perceived as disrespectful. Instead of singing the real lyrics to the song, she sang, "I don’t know the lyrics to this thing in this f—ing town. Don’t tell Dolly ’cause it’s her birthday."
The singer is known for her hit song “Ex’s & Oh’s." At one point, she warned the audience that she wasn't sure she could remember all of the words to one of her own songs. “I can barely play another person’s song; let me see if I can play one of mine,” she said.
Videos shared on social media also show Elle admitting that she was drunk at the performance. “My name is Elle King and I’m f—ing hammered," she said on stage.
After she performed the cover of Dolly Parton's song, she said, "I’m not even gonna f—ing lie, you bought tickets for this s—? You ain’t getting your money back.”
After the performance, some people who were in attendance took to social media to complain.
"Elle King ruined the night with her horrible, drunk, and profane performance," one person wrote on X. "Dolly Parton would’ve been mortified. For our first time at The Opry, it was a shame we all had to witness that."
The Grand Ole Opry wrote back to the X user: "We deeply regret and apologize for the language that was used during last night’s second Opry performance."
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Many disappointed fans also commented on a video of the performance that was shared on TikTok.
"I was there," one person wrote. "It was much worse than this video clip shows. The Grand Ole Opry is a family show. The people in front of us had children & walked out."
"Her whole band looked so embarrassed," one TikTok user noticed.
Some thought that others performing with her deserved more recognition.
"The grace of the woman trying to perform along with her; let's talk about her," one person wrote.
