Country music icon Dolly Parton has long been vocal in her support for the LGBTQ+ community. But if social media posts are to be believed, she has changed her tune.
“BREAKING NEWS: Dolly Parton announces her refusal to celebrate Pride Month in June — she says ‘WOKE’ doesn’t deserve to be commemorated,” read the caption of several Facebook posts.
But there’s no evidence she said that.
The posts link to web pages with un-bylined articles flooded with pop-up ads. The articles, which were similar in content, include a quote they say Parton gave in an interview with “The Tennessee Voice,” saying that while she loves everyone, she won’t take part in Pride month because it has “become political, divisive and performative.”
But “The Tennessee Voice” isn’t a real outlet; Google search results show no such website or any such interview. A former columnist at The Tennesseean newspaper hosted a podcast through 2024 called “Tennessee Voices,” but we found no interview featuring Parton.
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PolitiFact also found no credible reports or statements from Parton that she is boycotting Pride this year. She has long had a large LGBTQ+ fanbase and has spoken many times in support of gay and transgender rights.
When asked in a 2023 interview with The Hollywood Reporter about Tennessee legislation seeking to target transgender rights, she said, “I have some of everybody in my own immediate family and in my circle of employees. I’ve got transgender people. I’ve got gays. I’ve got lesbians. I’ve got drunks. I’ve got drug addicts — all within my own family. I know and love them all, and I do not judge.”
We rate this claim Pants on Fire!
