Dolly Parton laughs at the idea that she is some sort of secret philanthropist.
Sure, social media sleuths did piece together this week that the country superstar had been quietly paying for the band uniforms of many Tennessee high schools for years. And yes, it did take decades for her to reveal that she used the songwriting royalties she earned from Whitney Houston’s version of I Will Always Love You to purchase a strip mall in Nashville to support the surrounding Black neighbourhood in her honor. Oh, and it did eventually come out that Parton had donated US$1mil for research that helped create the Moderna vaccine for Covid-19.