Sometimes, it’s the divas that lead the way.
In a new interview with Billboard, international music superstar Dolly Parton makes her support for the Black Matters Lives movement clear and unequivocal: “I understand people having to make themselves known and felt and seen. And of course Black lives matter. Do we think our little white asses are the only ones that matter? No!”
The Billboard article offers a detailed profile of Parton’s extensive business empire and explores some of the secrets to her success.
Being flexible in business situations is one skill that’s served her well both financially and in showing the world her authentic self.
Years before talk of Confederate flags and statues leaped to the forefront of political discourse, Parton renamed her Dixie Stampede dinner venue Dolly Parton’s Stampede in an effort to be sensitive to the painful history of slavery.
“There’s such a thing as innocent ignorance, and so many of us are guilty of that,” Parton tells Billboard. “When they said ‘Dixie’ was an offensive word, I thought, ‘Well, I don’t want to offend anybody. This is a business. We’ll just call it The Stampede.’”
“As soon as you realize that [something] is a problem, you should fix it,” shares the 74-year-old wise woman. “Don’t be a dumbass. That’s where my heart is. I would never dream of hurting anybody on purpose.”
Related: Instinct Magazine stands in solidarity with the #BlackLivesMatter movement.
Of course, Parton has a long history of supporting and uplifting her LGBTQ fans. She’s often been quoted as saying, “If I hadn’t have been a girl, I’d have been a drag queen.”
In a 2009 interview with Joy Behar, she was asked about her support for same-sex marriage to which replied with a smile, “Why can’t they get married? They should suffer like the rest of us do.”
She reiterated that stance in 2014 telling HuffPost, “I think everyone should be with who they love.”
“I don’t want to be controversial or stir up a bunch of trouble but people are going to love who they are going to love,” she continued. “I think gay couples should be allowed to marry. They should suffer just like us heterosexuals, hahahaha.”
And last November, promoting her Netflix series Heartstrings (which featured a gay romance episode “Two Doors Down”), she told Logo, “I’ve always been proud of my gay following. I think they care about me because I care about them.”
And around that same time, the country diva jumped into the dance music world with her terrific collaboration with Galantis, “Faith,” giving us all something to dance about.
Happy Friday, folks! Here’s to celebrating a diva who gives back to all her fans.
