Dolly Nixes Statue.

February 18, 2021 9:26 AM

There is a bill pending in the Tennessee Legislature to put up a statue of Dolly Parton. Ms. Parton, however, says no thank you.

Oh, and see if you can spot the typo in the bill!!

posted by JanetLand (28 comments total)

Look on Dolly’s Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
posted by mr_roboto at 9:32 AM on February 18, 2021 [22 favorites]

It’s not a typo. It’s a pun.
posted by njohnson23 at 9:32 AM on February 18, 2021 [2 favorites]

Well, that was a bust.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 9:35 AM on February 18, 2021 [18 favorites]

That woman is a fucking saint.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 9:41 AM on February 18, 2021 [25 favorites]

where I come from, statues tend to end up covered in bird shit. Don't think I'd want to end up as one either.
posted by philip-random at 9:51 AM on February 18, 2021 [4 favorites]

I remember reading or hearing somewhere (possibly in the Dolly Parton's America podcast, which I highly recommend), that this was in response to protests against the exlusively white male and in particular of Confederate statues at the Capitol, and that this proposed statue was meant to somehow rectify that.
posted by Mchelly at 10:15 AM on February 18, 2021 [3 favorites]

there are names that appear to float the digital waves and reappear, always in a favorable light, just a light that grows with each day, it's hard not to buy into the mythos. I'm okay with that, I'm okay with the weakness in me that needs heroes. way to be, Dolly.
posted by elkevelvet at 10:15 AM on February 18, 2021 [7 favorites]

where I come from, statues tend to end up covered in bird shit. Don't think I'd want to end up as one either.

There's a statue of Dolly in front of the courthouse in Sevierville, her hometown. I read both She Come By It Natural and Songteller recently, and I don't remember which mentioned this, but she once talked about how her dad used to go by at night and clean the bird shit off of it.
posted by amarynth at 10:37 AM on February 18, 2021 [15 favorites]

Every time I learn something new about Dolly it confirms my belief that she is a national treasure.
posted by drstrangelove at 10:51 AM on February 18, 2021 [12 favorites]

I think we shouldn't build statues to people until they're dead for at least 50 years. And I could make a good case for 100 years.
posted by sotonohito at 11:02 AM on February 18, 2021 [14 favorites]

I unabashedly love Dolly (not even the weird 5-9 super bowl commercial can dim her shine for me - there is a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in). I like that her statement is basically, "no, please, wait til I'm dead." Mainly because I feel like creating statues of living people is weird, and possibly jinxes them, and I would prefer no accidental jinxes for Dolly, please and thank you.

On preview, I support sotonohito entirely.
posted by the primroses were over at 11:05 AM on February 18, 2021 [1 favorite]

Every time I learn something new about Dolly it confirms my belief that she is a national treasure.

She should be given national treasure -- as in "don't bother building another 13 billion dollar aircraft carrier, but give the money to Dolly Parton -- to continue doing more good things for more people.
posted by mikelieman at 11:07 AM on February 18, 2021 [9 favorites]

Monuments honoring Confederates should always and only be replaced by monuments honoring the African- Americans whom they oppressed.
posted by emjaybee at 11:08 AM on February 18, 2021 [15 favorites]

Ugh, my grandfather always said she was the only blonde worth knowing (we were ALL blonde). He's loving this from his eternal home....
posted by lextex at 11:23 AM on February 18, 2021 [2 favorites]

give the money to Dolly Parton -- to continue doing more good things for more people.

Nothing against Ms. Parton, but how about the government do good things for people instead of relying on altruistic philanthropists to do good things for people?
posted by meowzilla at 11:39 AM on February 18, 2021 [8 favorites]

If there's anyone in the world with experience being idolized while bird-brains are shitting on you, though...
posted by Riki tiki at 12:49 PM on February 18, 2021 [1 favorite]

hey they can put a bust of Rush Limbaugh in the MO state capital rotunda I think this is very doable and very right
posted by robbyrobs at 2:11 PM on February 18, 2021

Coincidentally I just finished reading this article about Dolly’s popularity over the last couple years, and how progressives have been able to project their beliefs onto her due to her somewhat vague public political opinions. It’s not her fault that people are looking for hope in a hopeless time but it’s been interesting to see this phenomenon play out.
posted by girlmightlive at 3:02 PM on February 18, 2021 [7 favorites]

Yeah, she's an INCREDIBLY charismatic person (saw her give a talk about literacy and brief performance at a conference a few years ago and she was stellar) and one of my fondest wishes is to visit Dollywood post-COVID, but one of her greatest skills is verbal redirection and just keeping quiet about her opinions. That's why everyone likes her - she mostly doesn't take controversial opinions for good or bad; she doesn't get milkshake ducked. Which is fine, that's her prerogative, but she's not a hero for deflecting political questions with a well-timed bawdy or folksy joke in every interview I've seen.
posted by bowtiesarecool at 3:30 PM on February 18, 2021 [7 favorites]

I mean, I heard a rumor she was a lesbian about 15 years ago. If the second most famous Tennessee country music artist can be enough of an unknown to attract that, I lament/shudder to think how good a politician she could have been. Seems she's doing alright on her own, though I still wouldn't assume she's a liberal.
posted by rhizome at 4:47 PM on February 18, 2021 [1 favorite]

I’m not reading this as modesty on Parton’s part so much as a statement of “With everything that’s going on right now, THIS is what our elected government thinks they should be spending their time on??!”

Which is really the only rational response from any patriot with half a brain.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 6:29 PM on February 18, 2021 [5 favorites]

'preciate the takedown of St. Dolly, no sarcasm, and no kidding. I know all of our human heroes are human, and it's nice to see that her flaws are so, ..., understandable, I guess. It turns out Cosby was always a creep and there are a dozen more just like him whose names don't immediately spring to my mind. Dolly, however unflawless, seems to have always been at least a little bit better than her cohort. I'll take it. That's how worlds improve.
posted by phrits at 7:23 PM on February 18, 2021

I think she is canny enough to realize the statue proposal is a way to continue placing white people at the center of history and put off the proper reckoning, which is of course to honor the victims of the confederacy.
posted by benzenedream at 10:18 PM on February 18, 2021

how about the government do good things for people instead of relying on altruistic philanthropists to do good things for people?

I'd automatically defer to Ms. Parton's wishes, but smart and capable people could do both. We certainly manage to find the time to put up statues to pro athletes who don't do shit but win corporate trophies. Even ignoring all the Confederate traitors who still have state-sanctioned monuments across the country.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 10:56 PM on February 18, 2021

I love her, and this makes me love her even more.
posted by daybeforetheday at 12:16 AM on February 19, 2021

Statue, meh. It’s already been done, and much more monumentally — Proctor & Gamble World HQ, Cincinnati, OH; Cincinnati Daily Photo, July 15, 2008.
posted by cenoxo at 5:40 AM on February 19, 2021

I think we shouldn't build statues to people until they're dead for at least 50 years.

I can see that but the monument to Terry Fox went up only a year after his death and that is good.
posted by Mitheral at 7:13 AM on February 19, 2021

Dolly also declined Trump’s offer of the Presidential Medal of Freedom… twice.
posted by mbrubeck at 10:01 AM on February 19, 2021 [2 favorites]