Elle King Finally Addresses Drunken Dolly Parton Performance

Country music singer Elle King is finally breaking her silence and is addressing that infamous drunken Dolly Parton performance at the Grand Ole Opry.

Earlier this year, King, whose real name is Tanner Elle Schneider, made headlines for her performance at Nashville's Grand Ole Opry for Dolly Parton’s 78th birthday celebration.

As you may recall, the country music star admitted she was “hammered” as she took the stage and attempted to sing a Dolly song. Following the backlash she received, King is now speaking out.

In January, Elle King took the stage at Nashville’s famed Grand Ole Opry as part of Dolly Parton’s 78th birthday bash. Within minutes, she left the crowd shocked as she admitted, “Hi, my name is Elle King. I’m f—ing hammered." She then attempted to sing Dolly Parton’s 2001 hit ‘Marry Me’ -- keyword...attempted.

Unsurprisingly, she could not remember the lyrics and decided to make up her own by singing, “I don’t know the lyrics to this thing in this f—ing town. Don’t tell Dolly ’cause it’s her birthday.”

Following the Grand Ole Opry stunt, she postponed a series of shows six days later.

Shortly after video footage of Elle King’s drunken performance went viral, the ‘9 to 5’ singer herself released a statement, saying, “Elle is really a great artist. She’s a great girl, and she’s been going through a lot of hard things lately. She just had a little too much to drink.”

Two months after the infamous performance, the “Ex’s & Oh’s” singer finally addressed the incident.

King took to Instagram to share a video of herself running up and down the stands of a concert venue during a workout. “To everyone sending me love because I’m human and already talked to Dolly. I love you,” she wrote over the video. “To everyone who told me to k-ll myself I love you too.”

She captioned the clip, "Oh no, was my human showing."

After sharing the video, King's followers flooded the comments section with support and words of affirmation.

"I was a wild, drinking, druggin 80’s girl…so glad there were no cell phones & social media to see myself effed up," one of her fans wrote, adding, "All I can say is every day is a chance for self-improvement. Carry on Elle King…and may each day in your bright future soften that regret."

"Girl, please we all do stuff we regret," another said.

A third chimed in by saying, "I think people forget singers are human."

The drunken Dolly Parton stunt was not the first time King was seen visibly intoxicated while on stage as during the ‘New Year’s Eve Live: Nashville’s Big Bash’, she was visibly drunk and could barely speak.

She also has a history of drug and alcohol abuse. “I really like to drink and sing. I don’t want to get as drunk as I used to,” King told the San Diego Union-Tribune in February 2022. “It’s easier for me to say: ‘Yeah, I want to drink and party and [then] go on stage.’ I get nervous before I go on stage, [so] I have couple of drinks [first]. Drinking makes me less nervous about hitting the notes when I sing. If I don’t make them, it won’t sting as much.”

When speaking on her "destructive" marriage, she admitted to turning to drugs as a way to "mask" her feelings.

“I was partying so hard to numb emotions that I couldn’t handle at the time. I realized it was just prolonging the inevitable of dealing with them. And what you have to do, unfortunately, is just feel them, and that sucks,” she told PEOPLE at the time. “I thought that by doing drugs it would buy me time to feeling better. And when that wasn’t working, I just realized I was in this other cycle, and that I was creating it myself. And I realized I needed to cut all the darkness out of my life.”

If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, help is available. SAMHSA’s National Helpline is a free, confidential, 24/7, 365-day-a-year treatment. Call 1-800-662-HELP (4357) or visit their official website.