When “9 to 5” stars Dolly Parton, Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin reunited onstage at last month’s Emmy Awards, few people expected them to be as political as they wound up being.
The video of the trio went viral, not because of what was specifically said — but because of the awkward look on Parton’s face as her two co-stars went after President Trump.
“In [‘9 to 5’], we refused to be controlled by a sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot. And in 2017, we still refuse to be controlled by a sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot,” said both Tomlin and Fonda, comparing the villainous boss character from their ’80s movie to Trump.
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“Everybody knows I don’t do politics,” Parton, 71, told “Fox and Friends” on Monday about her reaction at the awards show.
“I’ve got as many Republican fans as Democrats, and I don’t want to make any of them mad at me,” added Parton. “I don’t play politics. Plus, I’m an entertainer. I don’t usually voice my opinion in a situation like that.”
It’s a rare breed of entertainer in 2017 who deliberately avoids politics. These days, it’s also less common for entertainers to want to play to crowds who disagree with them. Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers, and Eminem have all recently lashed out at their conservative fans.
Related: Five Reasons We Love Dolly Parton
“I was a little nervous, but I knew I wasn’t going to play the game,” Parton added about the Emmy Awards. “A lot of people got mad at me because I didn’t say something. I thought, ‘What if I had said something?’ I didn’t know what to say. I just always go to a boob joke if all else fails.”
Parton is one of the few entertainers who has sustained a superstardom status over decades of performing and creating. Her popularity has never waned terribly — and these new comments suggest there is a good reason why.
(photo credit, homepage images: Dolly Parton…, CC BY 2.0, by pipilongstockings)
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