Dolly Parton speaks out against cancel culture: ‘If God can forgive you, so can I’

Dolly Parton wants no part of cancel culture.

The country music legend is known for being widely adored by her many fans, but even she has thoughts to share on the idea of being canceled — something she calls “terrible.”

“We all make mistakes,” Parton explained in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. “We don’t all get caught at it. But also when somebody makes a mistake, it depends on who they are. That’s what God is there for.”

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Dolly Parton is not a fan of cancel culture. (Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame)

She continued, “Now, I happen to believe in God; I’m a faith-based person, so therefore I am able to see it like that. A lot of people don’t, but even still, everybody deserves a second chance. You deserve to be innocent until you’re proven guilty. Even when you’re proven guilty, if God can forgive you, so can I. If God can forgive you, we all should forgive one another.”

Her comments came up in a more general conversation about acceptance, a concept she’s able to embrace because of something she calls “God-light.”

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“I try to shine with it and let them see it through me,” Parton said. “I try to find the God-light in everybody and everybody shines. I see that in everybody. I go right to that God-light, and I don’t care if you’re Black or White or green or alien gray. I go to that, because we’re all pieces of God and we all have that little God-light inside us. Some don’t get to let it shine. If I don’t see it first out, I’d go searching. That’s how I accept everybody because I know that we’re all pieces of God.”

Dolly Parton has been a country music star for decades. (Daniel Boczarski)

She also discussed being criticized in her youth for the flashy way she dressed, and said, “I knew how innocent I was in being myself and how pure that was in me. So I try to look for that innocence and that purity in everybody else.”

“Just like I did a song with Kid Rock on this album,” Parton explained to The Hollywood Reporter, speaking of her new rock album. “Of course I did that before the controversy that he had, but somebody was talking to me the other day, ‘How could you do this [song] with Kid?’ I said, ‘Hey, just because I love you don’t mean I don’t love Kid Rock. Just because I love Kid Rock don’t mean I don’t love you.’ I don’t condemn or criticize. I just accept and love.”

Dolly Parton stands by her collaboration with controversial singer Kid Rock. (Katherine Bomboy/NBC via Getty Images)

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Parton didn’t name which specific Kid Rock controversy she had in mind, but it’s likely she was talking about a video he shared earlier this year after Dylan Mulvaney, a transgender woman, became a spokesperson for Bud Light. In response, he shared a video of himself shooting several cases of the beer with a rifle.

“Like I said,” Parton went on, “I had done that before, but I’d have probably still done it, because he is a gifted guy, and that song was about a bad boy; it was about a boy that was cheating and mistreating her. But like I say, I love everybody. I don’t criticize, I don’t condone nor condemn. I just accept them. But anyhow, just because I love you don’t mean I don’t love Kid Rock in that God way.”

The “Jolene” singer-songwriter also spoke about performing at the Super Bowl — a gig she’s turned down numerous times.

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“I couldn’t do it because of other things, or I just didn’t think I was big enough to do it — to do that big of a production,” Parton explained. “When you think about those shows, those are big, big productions. I’ve never done anything with that big of a production. I don’t know if I could have. I think at the time that’s what I was thinking.”