Elle King Shares New Song About Being ‘Banned’ From the Opry

Elle King is revisiting a lowpoint of 2024 in an unreleased new song called “Banned From the Grand Ole Opry,” which she sang for fans in a social media video late last week.

The song appears to address King’s early-2024 mangled Dolly Parton tribute, where she appeared onstage visibly intoxicated during a Grand Ole Opry-hosted event celebrating Parton’s birthday.

• During her time onstage, King admitted she was “f–king hammered,” heckled concertgoers, forgot the lyrics to Parton’s “Marry Me” and cursed onstage, prompting the Opry to issue an apology.
• The explicit language King used onstage is a key detail, since the Opry has a code of conduct that expects performers and fans to keep things family friendly. Opry shows are broadcast on radio, meaning that they must adhere to FCC regulations on obscenity, profanity and indecent speech.
• After King’s Opry performance, some fans expressed offense, and a few even suggested she should be banned from the venue.

King’s status with the Opry isn’t clear, but she sang about being “Banned” from the venue in the song. Its lyrics express regret for her actions that night, but also acknowledge the fact that there’s a long history of country legends getting ousted from the hallowed country music stage.

“I ain’t proud, no sir, no way / Wonder what Hank and Merle would say / Least I’m in good company / Since I got banned from the Grand Ole Opry,” she sings in the chorus of the song.

Read More: 6 Country Artists Who Got Banned From the Grand Ole Opry

In another iteration of the chorus, she name-checks Johnny Cash, who — along with Hank Williams — is one of the greats who famously got the boot from the Opry during their careers (Merle Haggard was never officially banned, but he never achieved official membership, either.)

Like King, many stars have run into trouble at the Opry due to alcohol-induced inappropriate behavior or language transgressions.

However, they’ve also largely gone on to be eventually reinstated. In fact, the only star who’s ever been banned for life was Williams, and that was unintentional. The venue issued a temporary ban in 1952 as punishment for his chronic drunkenness and unreliability, but the singer died at age 29 on Jan. 1, 1953, before the Opry got the chance to lift their ban against him.

So even if King really has been ousted from the Opry, it’s unlikely to be a permanent ban. When she posted the unreleased song, the singer expressed her “love” both to the venue and Parton, underscoring that she’s got no grudge against the Opry for any consequences she faced.

Read More: Dolly Parton Responds to Elle King’s Botched Grand Ole Opry Tribute

King stayed mostly quiet after her fateful Opry performance, but Parton spoke out in the weeks that followed, urging fans to “forgive” and “forget” and pointing out that King “felt worse than anybody ever could” about the botched performance.

“She’s been going through a lot of hard things lately,” the country legend added, “and she just had a little too much to drink.”