Dolly Parton won’t be headed into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame this year.
In a social media statement Monday, the icon asked the Hall to withdraw her name from the 2022 ballot, saying “I don’t feel that I have earned the right.”
“I really do not want votes to be split because of me, so I must respectfully bow out,” she said in the statement. “I do hope that the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame will understand and be willing to consider me again – if I’m ever worthy. This has, however, inspired me to put out a hopefully great rock ‘n’ roll record at some point in the future, which I have always wanted to do.”
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Earlier this year, the Rock Hall included Parton in a nominee class that features Eminem, Beck, Duran Duran, A Tribe Called Quest, Lionel Richie and more. The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame announces this year’s class in May, per its website; a representative for the Hall could not be reached for comment at publication time.
While rare, a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction for a Country Music Hall of Fame isn’t unprecedented. A rare class of artists — including Brenda Lee, Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Chet Atkins, Hank Williams and the Everly Brothers, among others — can be found in both prestigious clubs.
But in an interview with Billboard last month, Parton said never saw herself as a rock ‘n’ roller “in any sense of the word.” In her statement Parton added that her husband, Carl Dean, “is a total rock ‘n’ roll freak” who always encouraged her to dip her toe in the genre — an idea Parton teased at earlier this year.
“… but I guess they judge it on the music and the influence certain songs have had, and I guess I’ve had songs with other people in that realm,” she said in the Billboard interview, adding: “I’m not expecting that I’ll get in. But if I do, I’ll immediately, next year, have to put out a great rock and roll album — which I’ve wanted to do for years, like a Linda Ronstadt or Heart kind of thing.”
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This isn’t the first time Parton took the reigns on her legacy to remove herself from honors she felt were undeserving. in 2021, she asked Tennessee lawmakers to table a bill that would enshrine her likeness in a statue on State Capitol grounds; and during a “Today” show interview last year, Parton said she twice declined the Presidential Medal of Freedom from former U.S. President Donald Trump.
Parton breaks with the Rock Hall during a whirlwind month for the multi-hyphenate entertainer. Last week, Parton co-hosted the ACM Awards in Las Vegas on the same day she released her first novel, “Run, Rose, Run,” a thriller authored with best-selling writer James Patterson. Earlier this month, Parton released an album of the same name to accompany the book.
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Contributing: Melissa Ruggieri
