Elle King Reflects on Comments About Relationship With Father Rob Schneider: ‘I Was Not Trying to Hurt Him’

Elle King is reflecting on her comments about her tense relationship with her father, actor Rob Schneider.

During the “Ex’s and Oh’s” singer’s revealing interview on BunnieXO’s Dumb Blonde podcast in August, the singer accused her father of being “toxic” and generally absent from her life as a child. She admitted doesn’t like to be associated with him because “he’s just not nice.” “My dad called me and was like, ‘Don’t f—ing talk about me in the press,’” she shared on the podcast. “I was like, ‘Get f—ed.’”

The singer-songwriter also emphasized that she doesn’t agree with Schneider’s controversial political views and recalled how she once “got in trouble” for not losing any weight while suffering from a sprained ankle. “I was a really, really heavy child, and my dad sent me to fat camp,” she continued. “My dad forgot every single birthday.”

King told People in a recent interview that she didn’t expect the podcast clips would be so widespread on the Internet. “I never in a million years thought that that was going to go viral. I was just speaking about my childhood and about my truth,” she told the publication. “I was not trying to hurt him.”

She continued, “A lot of people said, ‘How could she say that about her family?’ and ‘Everything needs to be behind closed doors.’ No, it doesn’t. Sometimes you have to just say things and get them off your chest so that you don’t have to carry it for the rest of your life.”

Schneider issued a public apology to his daughter while chatting with Tucker Carlson. “I want to tell my daughter, Elle, I love you. I wish I was the father in my 20s that you needed, and clearly, I wasn’t,” he said. “I hope you can forgive me for my shortcomings. I love you completely, I love you entirely. I just want you to be well and happy, you and your beautiful baby, Lucky. I wish you the best. I feel terrible, and I just want you to know that I don’t take anything you say personally.”

However, King addressed her father’s apology to People, noting, “Ultimately, I think an apology on Tucker Carlson is like a double negative, right? Means nothing.”

She concluded of the experience, “What I will say is the best thing that came from that is that my incredible LGBTQ+ community knows that they have an ally in me. And if that’s the biggest thing to come out of that platform, then I would’ve done it 10 more f—ing times because I am an ally, they have one in me, and I’m grateful.”