Elle King Postpones Show After Grand Ole Opry Drama
King's show at Bill Bob's Texas, scheduled for Friday, has been postponed until September.
Elle King has postponed an upcoming show, following the recent drama surrounding her drunken Grand Ole Opry performance. Over on Instagram, music venue Billy Bob's Texas announced that King's Friday, Jan. 26 concert is being rescheduled until later this year. "The Elle King event, originally for Fri. 1/26/24 has been rescheduled to Sat. 9/21/24 @ 10 PM," reads a statement from the venue. "Original event tickets will be accepted for the new date. Refunds are available at the point of purchase. Thank you for your understanding!"
On Friday, Jan. 19, King took the stage at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium to perform Parton's 2001 tune "Marry Me," during the Grand Ole Opry's Opry Goes Dolly tribute concert. However, video quickly began to emerge on social media showing King slurring her way through the song, while one of her fellow performers joked that King was "celebrating Dolly's birthday with the bottle." The singer also told the audience that she was "f—in' hammered."
In audience-filmed clips from TikTok and other social media, King can be seen and heard mumbling through her performance, seeming to forget the words to the song. She later began bantering with the audience, at one point telling some they "ain't getting your money back." King then went on to slur through some other vulgar comments before attempting to play another song. Some attendees noted that the Opry staff eventually closed the curtain on King while she was still on stage.
The Grand Ole Opry did not make a formal statement on the situation but did respond by posting a comment on X (formerly Twitter). On the social network, the Opry's official account posted a message on the day of the show, letting fans know that — "due to unforeseen circumstances" — country star Lauren Alaina would not "be appearing on tonight's Opry Goes Dolly shows."
Later that evening — after King's performance shut down the event — an upset fan responded to the post, writing, "I wish she would've been there because 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." The following day, the Opry replied, "Hi Judas, we deeply regret and apologize for the language that was used during last night's second Opry performance." At this time, neither King nor her reps have issued a statement on the situation.