Tennessee lawmakers want to put a Dolly Parton statue in the Capitol, but the singing legend is asking them to 'remove the bill'
- The Tennessean legislative assembly wanted to build a statue dedicated to Dolly Parton.
- But in a statement, Parton asked that they please "remove the bill" from consideration.
- She said it wouldn't be "appropriate" right now, but perhaps they can do it "after [she's] gone."
Music icon and Tennessee native Dolly Parton is politely asking state legislators to remove a bill proposing that a statue be erected on the state Capitol's grounds in her honor.
"I am honored and humbled by their intention, but I have asked the leaders of the state legislature to remove the bill from any and all consideration," Parton said in a statement Thursday.
"Given all that is going on in the world, I don't think putting me on a pedestal is appropriate at this time," the statement continued. "I hope, though, that somewhere down the road several years from now or perhaps after I'm gone if you still feel I deserve it, then I'm certain I will stand proud in our great State Capitol as a grateful Tennessean."
Back in January, Democratic state Rep. John Mark Windle introduced House Bill 135, which would create a statue in Nashville, "facing in the direction of the Ryman Auditorium," recognizing Parton "for all that she has contributed to this state."
The singer's Dollywood Foundation recently donated $1 million to fund the COVID-19 vaccine and back in 2016, she aided families affected by the Tennessee wildfires. A year before that, Parton focused on literacy, donating 100 million children's books after creating Dolly Parton's Imagination Library.
It wasn't long before the bill, which would be funded through grants and other donations, had support.
In fact on February 15, the New York Times ran an op-ed by Margaret Renkl titled "Give Dolly Parton a Statue Already." Renkl pointed out that the Dolly Parton statue proposal was the one bill that both Democratic and Republican legislators could agree on.
"No one in the entire state of Tennessee is more beloved," she wrote. "It's possible that no one in the entire country is more beloved."
After she issued the request for the bill's removal, Parton's name trended on Twitter.