Embarrassing stuff from CNN.
Shattering the hearts of the country music world — and the world at large, for that matter — the queen of country music, Dolly Parton, passed away on Tuesday morning at 80 years old in Nashville, Tennessee.The “Jolene” singer had been dealing with undisclosed health issues for the last year or so, and she previously shared that she was having issues with severe kidney stones. Aside from that, she understandably didn’t share more, though clearly there were more serious issues going on.
Dolly’s rep confirmed to People that her death sadly followed a “brief battle with cancer,” though the specific kind was not revealed. She had been open about her health struggles over the last several months, though it sounds like the cancer was a more recent development.
Of course, it’s hard to understate the impact that Dolly had on the landscape of country music. With 25 #1 hits, 27 gold/platinum certifications from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), 11 #1 albums, 10 Grammy Awards, multiple best-selling books, her own theme park at Dollywood, a lifetime of impactful work through her philanthropy and more, there’s hardly anything that the “9 to 5” singer didn’t accomplish throughout her incredible life.
Unsurprisingly, the country music world has been mourning her death. Online, legends such as George Strait, Reba and Blake Shelton, as well as Alan Jackson, Tim McGraw and Ella Langley (among plenty of others) took to social media to pen tributes, share memories and send condolences to the Parton family.
Since her passing, there have been plenty of memories shared, stories swapped and facts posted online about the late legend. Additionally, we’ve seen a plethora of live performances begin to pop up honoring Dolly across the music industry, with Chris Stapleton delivering a chill-inducing cover of “I Will Always Love You,” Ernest dedicating a performance of “I’ll Fly Away” at Red Rocks to her, Jack White covering “Jolene” and the likes of Katy Perry and Pitbull taking time to remember her at their shows.
What remains even more important in regard to Dolly, her artistry and her life in general is the fact that she served as a great unifier between just about everyone. It truly didn’t matter what side of the political aisle you’re on, what your sexuality is or where you were both socially or geographically; there was an incredibly high chance that Dolly impacted you in some way, shape or form throughout her illustrious career. Of course, that was shown from the outpour of support she received from just about everyone, ranging from President Trump to even the Royal Family.
Undoubtedly, Dolly’s passing is and will remain one of the biggest stories of the year here in the U.S., with every single news outlet, local, national, international and everything in between, covering her life, legacy, music and recent death.
Like every major news outlet, CNN has been extensively covering the “Jolene” singer’s passing, providing updates on the details surrounding her death and the outpouring of support her family has received from fans around the world over the past few days, both on air and in print.
With that being said, however, they made one baffling, downright embarrassing mistake on air Tuesday night that has now led to “The Most Trusted Name in News” to apologize to the Parton family.
During the broadcast of “Laura Coates Live,” which was live roughly 12 hours after the news broke of the 10x Grammy winner’s passing, the news network somehow aired an image of popular Vegas-based Dolly impersonator, Kelly Vohnn, as it provided coverage live from Nashville of fans honoring her death in Music City.
In an interview with New York Post, Vohnn, who was just as heartbroken as the rest of us, explained that she was in disbelief when she began receiving texts about the mistake from CNN.
“I started getting all these texts in from friends saying that I was on CNN, and I couldn’t believe it. I was already heartbroken at losing Dolly because of how much she has given to me as a woman and an artist. But then to see these images of me on screen was just weird. Somebody at CNN really messed up and didn’t do their research.”
Additionally, the impersonator expressed how sorry she felt for Dolly and her family, clarifying that she had never once represented herself as being the real Dolly Parton.
“I felt so sorry and apologetic for Dolly, because over her career there are so many wonderful images and moments that they could have chosen from — and CNN just picked something not appropriate. To be clear, I have never represented myself as being Dolly ever in my life. I have always been known as a tribute act for her and many other stars.”
Calling the situation “embarrassing” for CNN, she said she thought about calling the network but chose not to due to the grief of losing Parton, who was one of her heroes.
“It was quite embarrassing, to be honest. I thought about calling CNN, but was really consumed by the grief of losing Dolly [and] I just wanted to be at home with my thoughts, raising a glass of wine to that brilliant woman.”
In an incredibly brief statement to the Post, CNN would apologize to Parton and her family for the mistake:
“We regret the error and apologize to the Parton family.”
It should go without saying that CNN — as well the majority of cable news networks today — are woefully out of touch, recently highlighted in the country music world when they claimed that “people don’t know” Ella Langley, who has shattered Billboard records every week with “Choosin’ Texas.”
With that being said, however, this is simply a baffling mistake from the crew. It should go without saying that Dolly Parton was one of the most popular figures in the United States over the better part of a half century, and no one on the crew seemed to pick up on the fact that the image was an impersonator. Making matters even worse, major news outlets such as CNN, Fox, NBC, etc. all pull from licensed photo providers such as Getty, AP, Alamy. Simply put, it’s an inexplicable error that seems nearly intentional from the news outlet.
