"I hand-wrote an apology letter"— Elle King reveals the story behind her drunken Dolly Parton tribute, shares the latter's response

Country singer Elle King spoke up about her drunken performance during Dolly Parton's 78th birthday celebration at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville earlier this year. During the musician's appearance on the Dear Chelsea podcast on Thursday, May 16, 2024, she recalled the infamous incident —

“I was mortified, and I hand-wrote an apology letter to the Opry, and I hand-wrote an apology letter to Dolly."

Back in January, Grand Ole Opry (a live country music show held in Nashville) held a tribute show in honor of Dolly Parton. At the time, King showed up on stage intoxicated and stumbled through the performance. At one point, she forgot the words to the legendary singer's 2001 hit Marry Me and told the audience —

"Holy sh*t... I’m not even gonna f*cking lie, y’all bought tickets for this sh*t? You ain’t getting your money back. I’ll tell you one thing more: Hi, my name is Elle King, and I’m f*cking hammered."

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"I was totally 100 percent disassociated" — Elle King explained what happened during her infamous drunken Dolly Parton tribute performance

Talking about the performance and why she did not speak up earlier, Elle King told host Chelsea Handler —

"I did a big no-no. I not only cussed on stage, hammered at the Grand Ole Opry, but it was Dolly Parton's birthday, and it was the Opry was doing a Dolly Parton tribute. I haven't spoken about it because, one, I had to just chill. It was a big deal."

The Ex's & Oh's singer explained she was not originally supposed to perform on the said day, but she was asked to after the headliner backed out just three hours before their act.

King elaborated that she was going through a "heavy and traumatic" time in her life, and that day was "a really big day dealing with it." She added that she suffers from "severe PTSD" and took a "shot too many." Explaining that she doesn't remember what happened, she stated —

"I don't even remember what I said. I know now what I said. I said, ‘I'm Elle King, and I'm f*cking hammered,’ and I got the curtain dropped on me... I just get like flashes of this, and I was totally 100 percent disassociated. And I just cut to the dressing room, me on the floor just sobbing, like, ‘What have I done?"

Elle King revealed that she was harshly criticized following the controversy, with many calling her an "unfit mother" and asking her to "surrender" her son. She admitted that some even asked her to commit suicide.

King explained that she was not handling the aftermath of the night well. However, Parton's "kind words" helped the musician. Just a couple of days after King sent the Jolene singer her apology letter, Parton called her to say, "Well, Dolly's not mad at you, why should the world be?"

In February 2024, Dolly Parton, in an interview with Extra, acknowledged the incident and praised Elle King as an artist and person, asking everyone to forgive and move on from the incident. She added that King felt "worse than anybody ever could."

While discussing the incident, Elle King wondered if the public reaction would be different if she were a male artist. However, she took responsibility for her actions, stating that "it does (not) excuse" that she shouldn't be drinking. She even apologized to those who were in attendance on the said evening.

The country singer told the host that she learned from her mistakes and that the incident helped her become a better person.