National treasurer Dolly Parton has made a rare political statement, issued in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.
Parton, 74, made the statement to Billboard in an expansive feature that was published Thursday.
“I understand that people need to make themselves known and felt and seen,” she said of the protests that erupted across the United States in response to the police killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. ‘And of course Black’s thing lives on. Do we think our little white asses are the only ones who matter? No!”
The colorful quote comes after the revelation that Parton was up for the curve when it comes to re-branding country music: In 2018, she will rename her Dixie Stampede dinner attraction in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, “Dolly Parton’s Stampede.”
‘When they said’ Dixie ‘was an insulting word, I thought,’ Well, I do not want to offend anyone. This is in business. We’ll just call it The Stampede, ” Parton said. ‘As soon as you realize that [something] is a problem, you need to fix it.
‘Do not be dumb. That’s where my heart is. I would never dream of hurting someone on purpose. ”
It’s a break in the resolute apolitical streak that Parton has maintained for most of her career. She was blaring on stage alongside “9 to 5” co-stars Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda when she began bashing President Donald Trump at the 2017 Emmys.
“I do not have as many Republican friends as I have friends with Democrats and I just do not like to speak my mind about things,” she told the Guardian in 2019 when asked about the moment.
“I respect my audience too much for that, I respect myself too much for that. Of course I have my own opinions, but that does not mean I have to throw them out, because you’ll piss half the people off. ‘
“I’m not a judgmental person,” she told Billboard in the new interview. “I believe we all have the right to be exactly who we are, and this is not my place to judge.”
‘God is the judge, not us. I’m just trying to be myself. I try to let everyone else be themselves. ‘
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