Dolly Parton has requested that plans for a statue of her to be erected in her home state of Tennessee to be put on hold, due to “all that is going on in the world”.
In January 2021, Democrat Representative John Mark Windle introduced a bill calling for the country music legend to be honoured in the grounds of the Capitol in Tennessee.
However, Dolly has now issued a statement on Twitter, saying she doesn’t believe the time is right for her to be put “on a pedestal”.
“I want to thank the Tennessee legislature for their consideration of a bill to erect a statue of me on the Capitol grounds,” she wrote.
“I am honoured and humbled by their intention but I have asked the leaders of the state legislature to remove the bill from any and all consideration.”
Dolly continued: “Given all that is going on in the world, I don’t think putting me on a pedestal is appropriate at this time.
“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.”
She added: “In the meantime, I’ll continue to try to do good work to make this great state proud.”
It was revealed last year that Dolly had donated $1 million (£760,000) to coronavirus research, which had contributed massively to the development of the Moderna vaccine.
At the time, it was reported that Dolly had become friends with Vanderbilt University surgeon Naji Abumrad after she was involved in a car accident in 2013.
At the start of the coronavirus pandemic, the doctor showed the Grammy-winning musician the research the university was doing on antibodies to combat Covid-19, and she stumped up a cool million to the Vanderbilt Vaccine Center, which was involved in the Moderna vaccine trial.