Dolly Parton Refused to Bow to Hollywood Politics

Dolly Parton spent more than half a century proving that a superstar could have opinions without turning every concert, interview or awards show into a political lecture.

The country music legend, who died Tuesday at age 80 after what her representatives described as a brief battle with cancer, carefully avoided choosing sides in America’s increasingly bitter political wars.

And unlike many celebrities, Parton never seemed embarrassed about it.

“I am not political, and I refuse to get caught up in political things,” Parton told USA Today in 2020.

Her reasoning was remarkably simple: She had fans on both sides.

“I have as many Republican fans as I do Democrats,” she explained, adding that she didn’t want to alienate people who had supported her career.

For Parton, entertaining Americans came before telling them how to vote.

That philosophy repeatedly put her at odds with a celebrity culture that increasingly expected major stars to publicly weigh in on presidents, elections and hot-button political fights.

When ABC interviewer David Wright attempted to get Parton talking about President Donald Trump in 2018, she wasn’t interested.

“I’m not addressing that,” she said when Wright tried to compare Trump to the lecherous boss portrayed in her hit 1980 movie “9 to 5.”

Then Parton delivered a line that would become one of her clearest explanations of how she survived decades in show business.

“I learned a long time ago, keep your damn mouth shut if you want to stay in show business,” she said. “I’m not in politics, I’m an entertainer.”

When Wright reminded her that she was also considered a role model, Parton fired back with another simple answer.

“Yes I am. That’s why I don’t talk about people.”

That refusal to enter the partisan arena became especially apparent when Parton was offered one of the nation’s highest honors.

She revealed in 2021 that the Trump administration offered her the Presidential Medal of Freedom twice.

She declined both times — but not because of Trump.

Parton said she turned down the first offer because her husband, Carl Dean, was ill. She rejected the second because she did not want to travel during the COVID-19 pandemic.

When the Biden administration later approached her about the honor, Parton worried that accepting it at that point could itself look political.

“Now I feel like if I take it, it’ll be doing politics, so I’m not so sure,” she told NBC’s “Today.”

Her approach was almost unheard of in modern entertainment: refuse to become a mascot for either political party.

Parton certainly had beliefs.

She simply didn’t believe every belief needed to become a public crusade.

“I know whatever I say, people are going to listen, and they’re going to make more of it than maybe what I meant,” she told People in 2021.

She also warned against turning personal beliefs into weapons.

“You’re allowed your own beliefs and your own faith, but you don’t have to use it like a weapon when it could be a tool,” she said.

Parton could even poke fun at her political neutrality.

“My daddy was a Republican, my mama was a Democrat, and I’m a hypocrite!” she once joked, stretching out the word in her unmistakable Tennessee drawl to make it sound like “hypo-crat.”

Her willingness to associate with people across the political divide was tested again in 2023 when she recorded a duet with outspoken conservative musician Kid Rock for her album “Rockstar.”

Parton refused to disown him.

“Hey, just because I love you don’t mean I don’t love Kid Rock,” she said. “Just because I love Kid Rock don’t mean I don’t love you.”

She added: “I don’t condemn or criticize. I just accept and love.”

For Parton, that attitude was closely connected to her Christian faith.

She spoke openly about prayer, forgiveness and second chances, saying she asked God to work through her while recognizing the enormous influence her celebrity gave her.

“I ask God every day to let Him shine through me,” she told People.

Even Hillary Clinton couldn’t get an endorsement out of Dolly.

During the 2016 presidential election, Parton was forced to clarify that comments she had made about Clinton did not amount to an endorsement.

When later asked about the matchup between Clinton and Trump, Parton joked that the presidential race was “the greatest show on television” and reportedly described both candidates as “nuts.”

And when someone suggested that perhaps Dolly Parton herself should run for president?

Absolutely not.

“No,” she told Metro in 2023.

Parton joked that America had already had enough “boobs” in the White House before suggesting she might actually be too smart for politics.

“I’m not smart enough to be in politics, or maybe I’m too smart,” she said.

Instead, she believed her job was somewhere else entirely.

She could write songs. She could make people laugh. She could encourage people. And through projects such as her Imagination Library, she could help millions of children without requiring anyone to fill out a Republican or Democratic voter registration card first.

It was an increasingly rare philosophy in a celebrity world where political endorsements can dominate headlines.

Dolly Parton apparently decided long ago that Americans already had enough politicians.

What they needed from her was Dolly.

And for decades, that was exactly what she gave them.

Parton died Aug. 25 at age 80. Her representatives said she had faced a brief battle with cancer, and reports said she was surrounded by loved ones at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center in Nashville.

Her family has requested a small private service and encouraged those wishing to honor her memory to support Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library rather than send flowers.

She leaves behind a seven-decade career, more than 100 million records sold and an unusual legacy in modern American entertainment: a woman beloved by people who disagreed about almost everything else.