Country music legend Dolly Parton said in a new interview that she turned down the Presidential Medal of Freedom twice when it was offered to her during the Trump administration.
Parton, 75, told NBC’s “Today” that she was unable to accept the offers mainly due to personal reasons.
“I couldn’t accept it because my husband was ill and then they asked me again about it and I wouldn’t travel because of the COVID,” Parton said.
She also stated that President Biden has made the same offer.
“Now I feel like if I take it, I’ll be doing politics, so I’m not sure,” Parton added.
Former President Obama said during an appearance on the “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” last year that not giving Parton the medal during his time in the Oval Office was a “mistake.”
“Actually, that was a screwup, I’m surprised,” Obama told Colbert. “I think I assumed that she’d already got one and that was incorrect. I’m surprised, she deserves one.”
Parton has been an ardent philanthropist for several decades, running Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library since 1995. The organization provides free books to young children in order to support literacy. When wildfires destroyed several homes in east Tennessee, the singer provided monthly payments to families through her Dollywood Foundation.
Recently, Parton donated $1 million to Vanderbilt University to help develop the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine.
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Dolly Parton says she turned down Presidential Medal of Freedom from Trump administration twice https://t.co/18UoeBl4Ph pic.twitter.com/MHIIzFFYpV
— The Hill (@thehill) February 2, 2021
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