Could Dolly Parton be receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom from the incoming Biden Administration? In an appearance to promote his memoir, A Promised Land, on the Monday, November 30th episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, President Barack Obama took part in a segment called “Questions We’re Pretty Sure Barack Obama Has Never Been Asked Before” where host Stephen Colbert asked the former president random questions like “Dairy Queen Blizzards or Frosties from Wendy’s?” and “What is the best Monopoly game piece?”
When Colbert asked, “How does Dolly Parton not have a Presidential Medal of Freedom?,” President Obama answered:
“Actually that was a screwup. I’m surprised. I think I assumed that she had already got one and that was incorrect.”
President Obama then said, “I’ll call Biden.”
Hopefully, this will be a reality because not only has Dolly made great music and memorable songs throughout her extensive career, but she is also a generous humanitarian. In April, Dolly donated one million dollars for COVID-19 research to Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee which happened to be one of the trial sites for the vaccine created by Moderna, which has been reported to have a 95% effective rate according to early results.
In an interview with Alex Jones and Jermaine Jenas from BBC One’s The One Show, Dolly explained:
“I’m sure many millions of dollars from many people went into that. But I just felt so proud to have been part of that little seed money that will hopefully grow into something great and help to heal this world. I’m a very proud girl today to know I had anything at all to do with something that’s going to help us through this crazy pandemic.”
It was also revealed in late November that a percent of the money Dolly donated was directed at funding an early-stage trial of the vaccine.
If President-elect Biden does bestow the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Dolly, it would be her third honor from the federal government. The first being the National Medal of the Arts in 2005 and she was also a recipient of a Kennedy Center Honor in 2006.
Not to mention the fact she is more deserving than a certain past Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient.
Let us know what you think of the possibility of Dolly Parton receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom from soon-to-be President Joe Biden in the comments or on our social media accounts.
Sources: The Late Show with Stephen Colbert Official YouTube Channel, BBC News, The Kennedy Center, WhiteHouse.gov, DollyParton.com
