Elle King recently performed an unorthodox celebration of Dolly Parton’s 78th birthday at the Grand Ole Opry, where she admitted to being “hammered” while on stage. King forgot lyrics, stumbled over lines, and swore profusely during the all-ages show. Dolly’s sister Stella Parton took to social media following the performance to condemn King’s behavior and share her opinions.
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Stella has continued her rant on Twitter/X, calling King “a brat” and presenting her behavior in comparison with Taylor Swift, among other comments. “Since we’re comparing apples to oranges on here,” Stella began, “I’m still stewing and thinking bout how any lil spoiled brat with an opportunity to sing on the Opry to pay tribute to a legendary songwriter like Dolly Parton would just piss on the star circle on the stage. Taylor Swift wouldn’t.”
[RELATED: Grand Ole Opry Issues Apology to Fans for Elle King Performance]
Stella Parton Continues to Defend Her Sister Dolly Parton After Elle King’s Opry Performance
“There’s many different ways for a female singer to make a name for herself like maybe doing your damn homework,” she continued, before stating, “That’s enough said [in my opinion]. That’s it.”
Yet, Stella replied to her own tweet and continued. “For every singer, country or otherwise who has ever graced that stage and every fan who has ever sat in that audience we consider it a sacred space and a devine [sic] opportunity,” she wrote. “Well, if ya think it works in Country Music for a female to get attention, about five minutes is it! There’s a BIG double standard between men and women in entertainment and I’ve never seen it do men or women any good to disrespect an audience.”
Fans seemed generally in favor of Stella’s opinions, claiming Elle King’s performance was “an absolute disgrace” and she should “never be allowed on the Opry stage again.” They called King out for showing “disrespect” to Dolly Parton, with one fan saying she should “stay out of the path of Miley Cyrus.”
One fan boldly stated the opposite, writing in response to Stella, “Oh get off your high horse…there is a list of performers with questionable performances & are still respected artists who have/had successful careers. Y’all running at the mouth all shocked like this is 1st time an artist has been disrespectful at the Opry is just ridiculous!!”
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