Culture
18 Feb 21

Dolly Parton asks Tennessee legislature to remove bill to erect her statue on the Capitol grounds

The bill was introduced by Democratic representative John Windle.

Dolly Parton has requested that her home state of Tennessee remove a bill to erect a statue of her on the Capitol grounds "from any and all consideration".

The bill was initially sponsored by Democratic representative John Windle, who said, “she accepts everyone. She’s nonjudgmental. She is the example of what I think a Christian ought to be.” The measure would have the State Capitol Commission install a statue of the legendary country singer-songwriter on the Capitol grounds, facing the famed Ryman Auditorium. In June, there was also a Change.org petition started to have all statues of Parton replace the statues of Confederate soldiers.

Today (February 18), Parton herself released a statement gently asking for the bill to be thrown out. "I want to thank the Tennessee legislature for their consideration of a bill to erect a statue of me on the Capitol grounds. I am honored and humbled by their intention, but I have asked the leaders of the state legislature to remove the bill from any and all consideration," she wrote on Twitter.

"Given all that is going on in the world, I don't think putting me on a pedestal is appropriate at this time. 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 great state proud.

❤️ pic.twitter.com/qD9yGODWtT

— Dolly Parton (@DollyParton) February 18, 2021

Recently, Parton revealed that she had turned down receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Donald Trump twice, once because her husband was ill and another time because Coronavirus cases were running rampant in the United States. “I don’t work for those awards. It’d be nice but I’m not sure that I even deserve it," she said. "But it’s a nice compliment for people to think that I might deserve it.”