February 2, 2021
Watch: Dolly Parton Explains Why She Refused Trump's Medal of Freedom Offer - Twice
Kilian Melloy READ TIME: 2 MIN.
Country music icon Dolly Parton was twice offered the Presidential Medal of Freedom by the Trump administration - and twice turned the honor down. She explained why on the Today show in a Feb. 2 appearance.
It wasn't politics that motivated the "9 to 5" star, noted Entertainment Weekly, but rather a matter of health considerations.
Talking with the hosts Jenna Bush Hager and Hoda Kotb, Parton, 75, said, "To be honest, in all fairness, I got offered the Freedom award from the Trump administration. I couldn't accept it because my husband was ill.
"Than they asked me again about it," the superstar added. "I wouldn't travel because of the COVID. So now I feel like if I take it, I'll be doing politics, so I'm not sure."
Jenner and Kotb had broached the topic by recalling that former President Barack Obama had said in an interview that he's made a mistake by not giving the award to Parton. Obama said that he would be in touch with Joe Biden about the matter.
The hosts asked Parton whether Biden had indeed reached out to offer the medal to her. "I actually have," Parton said.
However, Parton went on to say, "I don't work for those awards. It'd be nice but I'm not sure that I even deserve it. But it's a nice compliment for people to think that I might deserve it."
EW noted that Parton is "an avid philanthropist, forwarding the cause of literacy through her own organization Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, as well as helping those in need via her Dollywood Foundation," and recalled that she had "donated $1 million to help fund coronavirus research at Vanderbilt University, which helped develop the Moderna vaccine currently being distributed."
"Throughout his presidency, Obama gave the award to several musicians, including Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, James Taylor, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross, Gloria Estefan and Barbra Streisand," noted the Today show website.
"During his administration, Trump bestowed only one musician with the Presidential Medal of Freedom: the late Elvis Presley."
The now-former president also bestowed the medal on right-wing shock jock Rush Limbaugh in February of last year.
Parton is not the only high profile celebrity to decline the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Donald Trump. Football coach Bill Belichick of the New England Patriots was offered the medal last month during the final days of the Trump administration and turned the medal down, citing the siege of the U.S, Capitol Building by a mob of Trump supporters.
"Remaining true to the people, team and country I love outweigh the benefits of any individual award," Belichick said.
To watch a clip of Parton's Today show appearance, follow this link.
Kilian Melloy serves as EDGE Media Network's Associate Arts Editor and Staff Contributor. His professional memberships include the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association, the Boston Online Film Critics Association, The Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association, and the Boston Theater Critics Association's Elliot Norton Awards Committee.
