Elle King Reschedules Billy Bob’s Texas Show After Grand Ole Opry Concert Backlash

Jessica Nicholson
·2 min read
23
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

Elle King rescheduled her Friday show at Fort Worth, Texas, venue Billy Bob’s Texas following her controversial performance at a Grand Ole Opry concert over the weekend. The Billy Bob’s show will now take place on Sept. 21.

The news comes after King’s profanity-laced performance during a tribute show at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium in honor of Dolly Parton’s 78th birthday. Video from the performance shows her attempt to cover Parton’s “Marry Me,” in which King slurs her words and forgets the lyrics to the song. At one point, King herself tells the audience that she is “f—ing hammered.”

More from Billboard

“I don’t know the lyrics to these things in this [expletive] town,” King sang at one point during the performance, adding, “Don’t tell Dolly ’cause it’s her birthday.”

In video footage from the performance, one of King’s bandmembers suggests that they perform one of King’s songs, to which King responded, “I’ll tell you one thing: I can barely play another person’s song; let’s see if I can play one of mine.”

The Grand Ole Opry offered a public apology on X, stating, “We deeply regret and apologize for the language that was used.” However, King’s camp has made no public statement regarding the Opry performance.

Though a rep for King confirmed to Billboard that the Texas show had been rescheduled, her team did not offer a reason for the move.

King’s next scheduled concert, according to her tour calendar, is for a Feb. 22 concert in Shipshewana, Indiana.

In 2023, King released her first country album, Come Get Your Wife, which featured the Dierks Bentley collaboration “Worth a Shot.” King is known for pop hits including 2015’s “Ex’s & Oh’s” and “America’s Sweetheart,” as well as two No. 1 Country Airplay collaborations: “Drunk (And I Don’t Wanna Go Home)” with Miranda Lambert as well as “Different for Girls” with Dierks Bentley.

Best of Billboard