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It was something Nashville Democrats and Republicans could agree on: a statue of country music legend Dolly Parton on the grounds of the State Capitol.
The only problem? He doesn’t have Parton’s vote.
The singer released a statement Thursday ask the Tennessee General Assembly to withdraw a bill that would have started the process of ordering a statue from her.
“Considering everything that’s going on in the world, I don’t think putting myself on a pedestal is appropriate right now,” Parton said in a statement posted to Twitter and Instagram.
A monument to Parton gained support during a debate over whether to remove the bust of Nathan Bedford Forrest, a former Confederate general, slave trader and leader of the Ku Klux Klan, from the Tennessee State Capitol. In 2019, a Republican House leader, Rep. Jeremy Faison, suggested Parton as a potential bronze replacement for Forrest; in January, a Democratic lawmaker, Rep. John Mark Windle, introduced a bill to launch plans for the statue on the grounds of the Capitol. According to the bill, the statue would be positioned to face the Ryman Auditorium, a country music venue steeped in history.
In his statement, Parton, 75, left the possibility of erecting a statue in the future, writing: “I hope, however, that somewhere on the road in several years or maybe after my departure, if you still feel I deserve it, then I’m sure I’ll be proud in our great State Capitol as a grateful Tennessean.
The singer was regarded for her role in the history of country music, her philanthropy and her strong Tennessee roots. (She was born in Sevierville, Tennessee, or as she likes to say, “the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains.”) It helped that Parton had long kept her political views to herself, saying in the series of 2019 podcast “Dolly Parton’s America” that she avoided the topic because “I have too many fans on both sides of the fence.”
Representative Windle’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether it considered removing the bill from consideration. The bill was due to be considered by a House committee on Tuesday.
On social media, Parton’s statement calling for the monument to be set aside drew applause from fans and fellow musicians who called it “National treasure, “Doing even more confident that the singer deserved such a tribute.
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