Dolly Parton said Thursday she does not want to be put on a pedestal… literally.
“I want to thank the Tennessee legislature for their consideration of a bill to erect a statue of me on the Capitol grounds,” the 75-year-old country icon wrote in a statement shared on social media. “I am honoured and humbled by their intention but I have asked the leaders of the state legislature to remove the bill from any and all consideration.”
In January, Tennessee Rep. John Mark Windle pitched the idea of a Parton statue on the Capitol grounds in recognition of “all she has contributed to this state.”
Parton wrote: “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 Tennesseean.”
— Dolly Parton (@DollyParton) February 18, 2021
Last summer, there was a push to replace Confederate statues at the Capitol with one of the country icon.
“Let's replace the statues of men who sought to tear this country apart with a monument to the woman who has worked her entire life to bring us closer together,” wrote Alex Parsons, who launched an online petition. “Dolly Parton has given more to this country and this state than those confederate officers could ever have hoped to take away.”
Parton recently revealed that she turned down the Presidential Medal of Freedom twice due during Donald Trump’s term – but not because of politics.
“I couldn’t accept it because my husband was ill and then they asked me again about it and I wouldn’t travel because of the COVID,” she said on Today.
Parton said president Joe Biden’s administration has already offered her the award. “Now I feel like if I take it, I’ll be doing politics, so I’m not sure.
“It’d be nice but I’m not sure that I even deserve it. But it’s a nice compliment for people to think that I might deserve it."