Why Dolly Parton Turned Down ‘Many’ Super Bowl Halftime Shows
By Movieguide® Contributor
Movieguide® award winner Dolly Parton revealed why she declined to perform at Super Bowl halftime shows.
“I’ve been offered that many times,” Parton told the Hollywood Reporter. “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. 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.”
The Super Bowl pulls significant viewership numbers every year.
“According to Statista, 115 million Americans tuned into this year’s Super Bowl game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles, making it the most watched game in U.S. history,” CBN’s Faithwire reported.
Even though Parton didn’t think she could put on a production that big, she might reconsider following the release of her first rock and roll album.
“It would make more sense. That might change. I might be able to do a production show,” she explained.
Her new album “Rockstar” drops on Nov. 17.
The singer was inspired to create the album after being offered a place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last year.
“They’re going to put me in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and somebody like Meat Loaf or some of these other great artists never even made it? I didn’t want to take away from somebody that has spent their life in that world like I had spent mine in country [music],” Parton said with humility.
While she initially declined the honor, the multi-time Grammy winner accepted it after finding out that other non-rock musicians were included.
“…I still didn’t feel great about it. I still thought I needed to earn it,” she added. “That’s why I thought, ‘Well, timing is perfect. There’s a real reason for me to do this rock ’n’ roll album. Here I am, a rock star at 77.’”
Other big-name musicians have shared their support for Parton’s latest endeavor.
Taylor Swift called Parton a “force of evolution and transformation in our industry.”
“She does it with such playful levity it almost looks effortless,” she continued. “Her sense of humor and mischief are easily my favorite things about her because I think it forces the world to reconcile that a woman can be a serious artist and writer who also has raucous fun with it, can make people laugh and be in on every joke.”
“She’s never stopped challenging herself to clear new hurdles and explore new territory artistically, and I think that speaks to her great curiosity about the human condition,” Swift added. “She’s a legendary empath and the storyteller for the ages. She’s also having the most fun doing it.”
Movieguide® previously reported on Parton:
Despite Parton’s fame and awards in almost every area of entertainment, she held on to her faith in God.
“I really feel like I have a calling,” Parton said. “I feel like God had told me early on in a feeling that I was supposed to go till He told me to stop and He [hasn’t] said nothing yet about quitting. And so I ain’t said nothing about retiring yet.”
Parton also lives out her faith in prayer.
“Every day I pray for God to lead me and to take out all the wrong things, wrong people in my life, bring all the right things, right people in, and to let me glorify Him and uplift mankind,” Parton said. “Let me be a light, and a vessel to be used…I just really want to do what I can in this world to make things better, if I can.”
Parton added: “There’s something bigger and better than us and we need to connect to that to make us better people. And the more you can draw from that, the better off you are, not just for yourself, but for all the things from people that you can touch by believing that.”
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