What Dolly Parton said about Elle King's 'hammered' Opry performance

Dolly Parton has finally spoken about Elle King's Grand Ole Opry performance at her birthday tribute show, and she isn't fresh out of forgiveness.

The queen of country music asked folks to forgive and forget during an interview with "Extra" that aired over the weekend. On Jan. 19, King took the stage for Parton's birthday tribute at the Opry telling the audience she didn't know the words to "Marry Me," and was "(expletive) hammered."

"I'll tell you one thing more … Hi, my name is Elle King. I'm (expletive) hammered," she said onstage.

"I don't know the lyrics to these things in this (expletive) town/Don't tell Dolly 'cause it's her birthday." She continued. "I'm not even gonna (expletive) lie … y'all bought tickets for this (expletive), you ain't getting your money back."

Parton addressed King's performance and showed why so many people are endeared by the blonde bombshell from Tennessee.

What did Dolly Parton say about Elle King's Grand Ole Opry performance?

“Elle is really a great artist,” Parton said during the interview. “She’s a great girl, and she’s been going through hard things lately.”

“She just had a little too much to drink, so let’s just forgive that and forget it and move on, ‘cause she felt worse than anyone ever could,” Parton said.

More fans upset: Fans were appalled by Elle King and sad about not seeing Dolly Parton at Grand Ole Opry

Elle King's Grand Ole Opry performance for Dolly Parton tribute

King's performance at the Grand Ole Opry caused backlash.

Multiple TikToks emerged of the performance leaving people to comment that King was very disrespectful to Parton and the tribute for her birthday.

"It was such a disappointment to spend $300 on tickets for a show where one of the artists ruined an entire night. I mean it’s The Opry, the greatest country venue in the world. That performance was like lackluster karaoke performer wasted out of their minds. Awful," read a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, which spurred an apology from the Grand Ole Opry.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Why Dolly Parton says 'forgive and forget' about Elle King performance