Parton not keen to play politics
– Dolly Parton may have twice turned down Donald Trump’s Presidential Medal of Freedom, but the ageless queen of country has multiple irons in the fire, including an ad appearance during Sunday’s Super Bowl.
The pop culture icon who penned megahits like I Will Always Love You and working woman call to arms 9 to 5, says she remains unsure whether she would accept the highest civilian honour from the nation’s new President, Joe Biden, because it would appear too political.
“I couldn’t accept it [from Trump] because my husband was ill and then they asked me again about it and I wouldn’t travel because of the Covid,” Parton, who donated to the development of one of the main coronavirus vaccines, explained in an interview with NBC.
She revealed that she has heard from Biden about the award, too.
“Now I feel like if I take it, I’ll be doing politics, so I’m not sure,” she said.
As for the possible presidential medal, “I don’t work for those awards”, self-effacing Parton said.
“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.”
Trump gave the Presidential Medal of Freedom to one musician, Elvis Presley. Late in his term, he controversially bestowed the award on two members of Congress loyal to the president through his two impeachments.
New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick turned down the medal last month following the US Capitol riot on 6 January.
Former president Barack Obama gave the medal to several music legends, including Stevie Wonder and Bob Dylan, but in November said it was “a mistake” not to award Parton.
“I think I assumed that she’d already got one and that was incorrect,” Obama told the CBS Late Show. “I’m surprised, she deserves one.”
Parton, at 75, has remained relentlessly busy.
She is up for a Grammy Award – her 50th nomination – in March and wrote music for the 2018 Netflix coming-of-age movie Dumplin’. She is the subject of a popular podcast and is hawking a new perfume.
Parton just cut a digital-age version of 9 to 5, the track from her 1980 blockbuster film of the same name, to feature in her first ad during an American football championship game. –
It’s a nice compliment for people to think that I might deserve it.
Dolly Parton Country singer