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- The country music legend told The Today Show that Trump twice presented him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
- Both times, she refused, citing a family illness and COVID.
- The Biden administration also approached her about the award, but she said she didn’t want to be seen as “playing politics.”
- Visit the Business Insider homepage for more stories.
Dolly Parton revealed to the Today Show that she was offered the Presidential Medal of Freedom by former President Donald Trump twice, but had to beg both times.
“I couldn’t accept it because my husband was sick and then they asked me again about it and I would not be traveling because of COVID,” she told host Hoda Kotb.
Parton is highly regarded both for her musical career and for the many charitable projects she has undertaken in recent years. In November, she donated $ 1 million to Vanderbilt University to support research into the coronavirus vaccine. She had previously donated $ 1 million to Vanderbilt to help fund his Monroe Carell Jr. Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital.
Perhaps her best-known charity project is her Imagination Library, a charity she founded in 1990 that provides one free book per month to children from birth to adulthood. In the early months of the pandemic, she used the Imagination Library platform to read bedtime stories to children who were not in school.
Trump isn’t the only president hoping to give Parton a medal of freedom. The eighth Grammy winner told Today the new administration has contacted her, but has concerns about how receiving the Biden award might be viewed.
“Now I feel like if I take it I’m going to be in politics, so I’m not sure,” she said.
In a 2020 Stephen Colbert interview with former President Barack Obama, Obama said it was a “mistake” that his office did not offer Parton this honor.
The Presidential Medal of Freedom was created in 1945 and is the country’s highest civilian honor. It is awarded for “a particularly meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other important public or private endeavors,” according to the National Archives.
Trump presented 24 Presidential Freedom Medals during his tenure, although the late Elvis Presley was the only other musician to receive one. Rush Limbaugh, Tiger Woods and Rep. Jim Jordan were among those honored by the former president.
New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick was also offered the award but turned it down following the Jan.6 uprising on Capitol Hill.
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