Dolly Parton Bows Out of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Nomination
Dolly Parton has announced she is bowing out of this year's Rock & Roll Hall of Fame nomination.
"Dolly here! Even though I am extremely flattered and grateful to be nominated for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, I don't feel that I have earned that right," the country music legend wrote in a statement shared on Twitter. "I really do not want votes to be split because of me, so I must respectfully bow out.
"I do hope that the Rock & Hall of Fame will understand and be willing to consider me again — if I'm ever worthy," she continued. "This has, however, inspired me to put out a hopefully great rock 'n' roll album at some point in the future, which I have always wanted to do! My husband is a total rock 'n' roll freak and has always encouraged me to do one. I wish all of the nominees good luck and thank you again for the compliment. Rock on!"
You can see the post below.
Unfortunately, Parton has already contributed to some vote splitting. Rock Hall fan voting is now open, and the singer sits at No. 4 on the leaderboard with more than 280,000 votes at the time of this writing. She trails Duran Duran, Eminem and Pat Benatar, with Eurythmics rounding out the Top 5.
Parton is not the first artist to reject the Rock Hall's gestures. Sex Pistols notoriously rejected their induction in 2006, with singer Johnny Rotten posting a note on the band’s website that read, "Next to the Sex Pistols, rock 'n' roll and that hall of fame is a piss stain. … We're not your monkeys, we're not coming. You're not paying attention."
Axl Rose also declined to be inducted with the rest of Guns N' Roses in 2012, writing in an open letter, "So, let sleeping dogs lie or lying dogs sleep or whatever. Time to move on. People get divorced. Life doesn’t owe you your own personal happy ending especially at another's, or in this case several others', expense."
It is currently unclear whether the Rock Hall will honor Parton's request and withdraw her from the list of nominees or proceed as planned. UCR has reached out to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame for comment.