Dolly Parton will always love Elle King.
The country music legend recently broke her silence on the “Exes and Ohs” singer’s drunken performance at a star-studded tribute concert held in celebration of Dolly’s 78th birthday.
“Elle is really a great artist, she’s a great girl,” Dolly told ExtraTV in an interview published Feb. 9. “She’s been going through a lot of things lately, and she just had a little too much to drink.”
Encouraging others to lead with kindness as well, she added, “So let’s just forgive that and forget that and move on ’cause she felt worse than anybody ever could.”
The “Jolene” singer’s understanding words arrived less than a month after Elle confessed to being “f—king hammered” when she messed up the lyrics to Dolly’s 2001 hit “Marry Me” onstage at Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry. After stumbling her way through some of the lines, the 34-year-old proceeded to sing, “I don’t know the lyrics to this thing in this f—king town/ Don’t tell Dolly ’cause it’s her birthday.”