Elle King’s ‘Hammered’ Dolly Parton Tribute Performance Sparks Outrage and Concern

Elle King recently sparked concern, and outrage, during a tribute performance for Dolly Parton for which she admitted she was “f—in hammered.” Whiskey Riff reports that 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.”

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.

Many have since spoken out about King’s performance, with one person who attended writing in a post on X, “Fun night ruined by an incredibly disappointing Elle King ending.” Someone else added, “Elle King drunked it up again.Tonight at the Opry…celebrating Dolly and listening to Elle slur words and drop F bombs right on the stage of the mother #church of country music. Ryman Aud crowd disgusted and speechless.”

“Elle King on the Grand Ole Opry: “I’m f—ing hammered” and she’s yelling out s— and f— and it’s going out over the radio,” one person shared before joking, “Who says you can’t have fun on the AM radio?” Over on TikTiok one person commented, “I don’t see Dolly holding a grudge…the Ryman on the other hand may not invite her back for a minute.”

“She’s struggling with alcoholism. Someone on the stage should have pulled her off,” one person commented on TikTok. “I could care less about the cussing etc. I care more about her and the situation [than] the disrespect because it’s clearly due to her state of mind. And I’m a dolly and Ryman lover through and through.” They then added, ” I hope she gets the help she needs and I hope others feel the same and realize it’s likely she is embarrassed and paying for it without the audience ‘making her.’”