A Dolly Parton statue in Tennessee? Country music icon says thanks — but not right now
In this July 31, 2015, file photograph, Dolly Parton performs in live performance on the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tenn. (Photo by Wade Payne/Invision/AP, File)
Associated Press file photograph
Dolly Parton stated Thursday she does not really feel the time is right for a statue in her honor to be positioned outdoors the Tennessee Capitol.
Her request to the Tennessee legislature comes a month after state Rep. John Mark Windle introduced a bill to acknowledge the famend philanthropist and nation music icon with a statue in Nashville. The proposed statue could be positioned on the Capitol grounds dealing with the well-known Ryman Auditorium.
Parton thanked lawmakers but requested them to take away the invoice from consideration — at the least for now.
“Given all that is going on in the world, I don’t think putting me on a pedestal is appropriate at this time,” she stated in an announcement. “I hope, though, that somewhere down the road several years from now or perhaps after I’m gone if you still feel I deserve it, then I’m certain I will stand proud in our great State Capitol as a grateful Tennessean.
“In the meantime, I’ll continue to try to do good work to make this state proud.”
Even earlier than the invoice was launched in January, there was dialogue that Parton ought to be honored with a statue.
A Change.org petition created in June to interchange all Confederate statues in Tennessee has greater than 25,000 signatures.
“History should not be forgotten, but we need not glamorize those who do not deserve our praise,” the petition says. “Instead, let us honor a true Tennessee hero, Dolly Parton.”
Parton grew to become well-known for her singing, but she has given again in a mess of the way. In 2018, her Imagination Library program gave its 100 millionth free book to kids, NPR reported.
In 2016, Parton organized a telethon in response to Tennessee wildfires, raising more than $9 million, based on Billboard.
She pledged $500,000 to a hospital and most cancers affected person middle in Tennessee in 2007, and also raised the same amount throughout a profit live performance.
Her charitable efforts had been spotlighted when Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine was authorized late final yr. In April, Parton revealed she donated $1 million to the research of the vaccine.
