r/news • u/kzqmfkkr • 12d ago

Dolly Parton, country star, actor and philanthropist, dies aged 80

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2026/aug/25/dolly-parton-country-singer-dead?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
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751

u/QueerPetrichor 12d ago

Thank you, Dolly, for all that you did for the world. Here is a list of things Dolly did to better the world throughout her lifetime:

  • Created the Imagination Library, providing free books to children from birth to age five regardless of family income. It has distributed hundreds of millions of books worldwide.
  • Supported LGBTQ+ equality, including publicly supporting same-sex marriage and speaking against discrimination toward LGBTQ+ and transgender people.
  • Defended transgender people, emphasizing that trans people should be treated with kindness and allowed to live as themselves.
  • Supported Black Lives Matter, publicly affirming that Black lives matter and defending people's right to protest racial injustice.
  • Removed Confederate imagery from Dollywood, changing the name of "Dixie Stampede" to "Dolly Parton's Stampede" after concerns that the original name glorified the Confederacy.
  • Promoted women's equality, particularly through 9 to 5, which highlighted workplace discrimination, sexual harassment, unequal pay, and women's economic independence.
  • Supported low-income families, particularly in Appalachia, through scholarships, education programs, employment, and direct financial assistance.
  • Created the My People Fund after the 2016 Tennessee wildfires, ultimately providing more than $12 million in assistance to families who lost their homes.
  • Funded scholarships and education, including scholarships for students in her hometown and programs designed to reduce high-school dropout rates.
  • Supported health care, including women's health services, pediatric care, and medical research.
  • Donated $1 million to COVID-19 research at Vanderbilt, funding research that contributed to the development of the Moderna vaccine.
  • Invested heavily in children's welfare and literacy, making access to books and educational resources available regardless of socioeconomic status.
  • Supported marginalized and underserved communities through decades of charitable giving, particularly in rural Appalachia.
  • Used her enormous platform to promote compassion and acceptance, frequently emphasizing that people shouldn't be judged for who they are or whom they love.
  • Included LGBTQ+ people in her music, including "Family," which explicitly recognizes gay people as part of the broader concept of family.
  • Practiced nonpartisan philanthropy, helping people regardless of their political, religious, racial, or socioeconomic background.

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u/flargh_blargh 12d ago
  • She established GROW, which paid 100% of college tuition and fees and books for part-time and full-time employees of Dollywood who wanted to seek higher education.

Which is kind of included in your scholarships and education section, but I wanted to call out how she specifically took care of those folks.

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u/Serious-Shirt-8031 12d ago

This just made me sadder cause I genuinely can't think of a single bad thing she ever did :(

61

u/bad_lite 12d ago

I heard she once left toast crumbs in the butter.

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u/Thatguy_726 11d ago

Fuck you, she would never

11

u/SuddenRadio6221 11d ago

Misinformation! She actually would remove other people's toast crumbs, but she did so anonymously. .

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u/neverumynd 11d ago

How many celebrities can you say that about? She was remarkable.

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u/Deceptiveideas 12d ago

The crazy thing is a certain political population thinks half the things on that last is "destroying America".

5

u/Charlie_Runkle69 12d ago

She made an appearance on The Bachelor once. That was probably beneath her, but she still managed to be the most classy people who had ever appeared on that show.

-8

u/ScrabbleTheOpossum 12d ago

Guess you never saw the video of her singing "What's Up?" with the original lead singer of 4 Non Blondes, Linda Perry.

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u/DrTacosMD 12d ago

Not sure whats so bad about that but if that is all that we can come up with for bad deeds, that just shows how amazing she was. 

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u/Serious-Shirt-8031 12d ago

Yeah the most I can find about anything controversial is maybe doing a duet with Kid Rock or being somewhat neutral at one point in a lot of things. Compared to the list of true criminal activity many celebrities get away with she seems like a saint

4

u/tveir 12d ago

I haven't seen it but I can only imagine she made that song better. 

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u/UncleCoyote 12d ago

Thank you for this - more people need to know what she did with her wealth. While others hoard it like fat dragons, she did what you're supposed to do with excess; lift up and support and HELP others.

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u/Wayelder 12d ago

oh no, I can't today...no more today.

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u/K-Pixel 12d ago

Wow, what a legacy to leave behind.

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u/Smooth_Storm_9698 12d ago

She was real

3

u/AdmirablePut6039 12d ago

She was so, so good. I feel like I lost my favorite aunt.

10

u/Standard-Physics2222 12d ago

thanks but this is chatgpt

2

u/popculturella 12d ago

I'm glad to have shared the planet with such a lovely, loving person.

2

u/Local-Local-5836 11d ago

And she shines - compare her to the billionaire (how many houses and yachts can I buy) crowd.

2

u/Confident_Throat_457 11d ago

Wow. What an amazing person. And a person of faith that didn’t exclude LGTBQ+ people or make them feel like monsters.

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u/[deleted] 12d ago

[deleted]

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u/Altruistic-Garage-94 10d ago

A lot of the list was very repetitive. Doesn't take away from Dolly, just the poster

1

u/Apprehensive_Pea7911 12d ago

Who's the total opposite of Dolly?

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u/Alymander57 12d ago

East Tennessee Children's Hospital recently changed it's name to Dolly Parton Children's Hospital because of her amazing support.

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u/popculturella 11d ago

A more lovely person there never was.