Elle King breaks silence about drunken Dolly Parton tribute concert: 'My human was showing'

Elle King is breaking her silence nearly two months after she received backlash for her performance during a Dolly Parton tribute concert celebrating the country legend's 78th birthday.

The 34-year-old "Ex's & Oh's" singer, who is Rob Schneider's daughter, led with forgiveness as she addressed the January incident, which saw her forgetting the lyrics to Parton's "Marry Me" while seemingly performing inebriated at Nashville's Grand Ole Opry, in a video posted Sunday.

"To everyone sending me love because I'm human and already talked to Dolly I love you," she wrote in text overlaying a clip of herself running up the stairs at a venue. Below, she added, "To everyone who told me to k*ll myself I love you too."

She captioned the video, "Oh no was my human showing." King posted the video while in London for the Country to Country festival at the O2 arena.

King's first public acknowledgment of the incident comes nearly a month after Parton revealed she was unphased by King's blunder and encouraged the public to move past it.

In an interview published Feb. 15, Parton told E! News that she'd called King after the controversial performance. "I called her, and I said, 'You know, there are many F-words,'" Parton said. "'Why don't we use the right one? Forgiveness, friends, forget it.'"

Parton went on to say that King "made a mistake" and "feels worse about it than anybody" but is "a talented girl" who is "going through some hard times." She added, "So, we need to get over that because she's a great artist and a great person."

She also told "Extra" that King is "a great girl, and she’s been going through hard things lately." Parton added, "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."

What happened during Elle King's Dolly Parton tribute concert performance?

After a user on X, formerly Twitter, complained that the singer-songwriter had "ruined the night with her horrible, drunk, and profane performance," the Grand Ole Opry responded.

"We deeply regret and apologize for the language that was used during last night's second Opry performance," the Opry's Jan. 20 post read.

King's performance was caught on video from multiple angles.

According to one TikTok video, the "Worth A Shot" singer admitted onstage she didn't know the words to the song: "I don't know the lyrics to these things in this (expletive) town/Don't tell Dolly 'cause it's her birthday."

Addressing the audience, she said: "I'm not even gonna (expletive) lie … y'all bought tickets for this (expletive), you ain't getting your money back." She added, "I'll tell you one thing more … hi, my name is Elle King. I'm (expletive) hammered."

King released her third studio album, "Come Get Your Wife," last year.

Contributing: Pamela Avila and Taijuan Moorman

'She made a mistake': Dolly Parton called Elle King after Grand Ole Opry tribute

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Elle King addresses critics after drunken Dolly Parton tribute concert