5 times America tried to pull Dolly Parton into politics and how she got out every single time

During a 2018 ABC 'Nightline' interview, correspondent David Wright revisited '9 to 5,' the 1980 comedy in which Parton, Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin take on their sexist, overbearing boss. The comparison had already turned political at the 2017 Emmys, when Fonda and Tomlin used a reunion with Parton to take a pointed swipe at Trump. When Wright tried to steer the conversation toward Trump and the 'Access Hollywood' tape, Parton shut it down with three words, “I don’t do politics.” It was classic Dolly: she neither defended nor attacked Trump, refusing to be pulled into the partisan fight.

Trump's administration offered Parton the Presidential Medal of Freedom twice, but she declined for practical rather than political reasons: first because her husband Carl Dean was ill, and later because she did not want to travel during the COVID-19 pandemic. After Barack Obama admitted that not honoring Parton during his presidency had been a “screw-up,” the Biden administration approached her again. This time, Parton worried accepting could itself look political after turning down Trump. “Now I feel like if I take it, I'll be doing politics,” she explained — and declined once again.

During the 2016 presidential race, Parton praised Hillary Clinton as qualified while discussing the possibility of America's first female president. Her comments were quickly interpreted as an endorsement, something Dolly insisted she had never given. Parton clarified that she supported neither Clinton nor Trump, then defused the controversy with humor. Whoever won, she joked, America could face “presidential mood swings.” She even suggested she should run herself because she already had the hair. Once again, Dolly escaped a political corner without picking a side.

Parton’s 'Rockstar' album included 'Either Or,' a duet with Kid Rock that drew scrutiny after his Bud Light controversy, particularly given her longtime support for LGBTQ+ fans. Parton said the song was recorded before the controversy but added that she probably would have worked with him anyway. She refused to “criticize” or “condemn” others, saying she preferred to accept and love people while speaking only for herself.

After decades of carefully sidestepping questions about Democrats and Republicans, Parton eventually found a punchline that explained the whole thing better than any manifesto could. Her father, Lee Parton, was a Republican. Her mother, Avie Lee, was a Democrat. So where did that leave Dolly? “My daddy was a Republican, my mama was a Democrat, and I'm a hypocrite!” With her Tennessee delivery, “hypocrite” landed more like “hypo-crat” almost as though she had invented a third political affiliation somewhere between Democrat and Republican. Contemporary accounts specifically noted the playful pronunciation. Parton repeatedly said she had fans on both sides and didn't want to make either group angry simply to participate in partisan politics.