Dolly Parton, 77, was shamed for her cheerleading outfit. Now her defenders are calling out ageism.
Author Vicki Larson tells Yahoo Entertainment that many people “can’t wrap their heads around women displaying their sexuality.”
Here they come again. It’s the age police, who regularly tell women what they are and are not allowed to wear at certain ages.
This time, the subject of their dismay is singer Dolly Parton, who dared to rock a re-creation of the famous uniform that the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders wear, as she performed during halftime at the team’s Thanksgiving game. The 77-year-old donned itty-bitty shorts and a low-cut royal blue shirt that bared her midriff over a sheer, sparkly bodysuit and tights. While she looked amazing, there’s been a lot of chatter about her ensemble in the days since.
The outfit and performance
“How do you like my outfit?” the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer and philanthropist teased the crowd at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, beforelaunching into a setthat featured fan favorites “Jolene” and “9 to 5,” as well as a couple of arena-friendly covers, “We Are the Champions” and “We Will Rock You,” both of which are from her latest album,Rockstar.
She swayed and walked up and down a stage placed on the field, as the team’s official cheerleaders trotted out to the theme song from Parton’s 1980 movie, 9 to 5, in which she starred with Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin. There’s been speculation about the set, with the Dallas Morning News asking, “Did Dolly Parton’s stage malfunction at Cowboys halftime show?” Parton never stepped onto the star platform with a hole in it that was behind her, and her manager had hyped it as the largest production the team had ever done for a halftime show. But again, it was what she was wearing that drew the most attention.
The criticism — and Dolly’s response
Although Parton is one of the most beloved figures in entertainment, her unexpected look generated some backlash. A sample of the negative comments on social media: “I loved her for decades and now I’m just so disgusted and disappointed with her”; “Dolly Parton should not be dressing like this”; and “Nobody wants to see a 95-year-old granny dressed like that even if you’re worth $650 million.”
Well, they got one thing right: Parton’s staggering fortune, which she regularly uses to fund worthy causes, such as COVID-19 vaccine research. In fact, the game she performed at was the annual kickoff for the Salvation Army’s iconic Red Kettle Campaign, and she modeled a traditional Salvation Army uniform and rang a bell in a prerecorded video shown just before she came out.
Vicki Larson, the author of the 2022 bookNot Too Old for That: How Women Are Changing the Story of Aging, tells Yahoo Entertainment that many people just “don’t want to see women past a certain age dress provocatively.”
“The idea of someone in her 70s dressing like a cheerleader, or women in their 60s like Madonna posting selfies on Instagram in barely-there lingerie, or women in their 60s and 70s displaying cleavage like on The Golden Bachelor means that they are still sexual beings, and many can’t wrap their heads around women displaying their sexuality,” Larson continues. “They want women past a certain age to ‘stay in their lane’ and look like their sweet grandmothers may have looked like. They often forget that either they themselves may (with luck) be that age one day and may embrace that part of themselves or their wife or romantic partner may want to embrace that part of themselves.”
Yahoo Entertainment contacted Parton for her response, although a number of others have already shared theirs…
The support
There’s no shortage of celebrity love for Dolly.
Comedian Chelsea Handler posted a video in which she said, “Oh, hi! I was just dreaming about one day being half the woman Dolly Parton is, kicking ass onstage in front of millions of viewers at age 77, when I came across this bulls*** on the internet.” She then slammed a post that someone had shared on X, formerly known as Twitter, in which they said that a woman Parton’s age should be at home with their family.
“Listen up, you f***ing wingnut,” Handler said, “Dolly Parton is an American treasure. And the fact that she is on that stage at all is a gift to everyone who sees her. In fact, saying anything negative about Dolly Parton is anti-American, quite frankly. There are two people in this country that no one is allowed to talk s*** about, and their names are Willie Nelson and Dolly Parton.”
The formerChelsea Latelyhost then gave a quick overview of some of Parton’s good works, before saying she planned to be “proudly tits out well into my 90s,” adding, “We are only getting older and hotter, so f***ing deal with it!”
OnThe View, host Whoopi Goldberg brought up the subject during the show’s “Hot Topics” segment. “Seventy-seven-year-old superstar Dolly Parton stole the show on Thanksgiving at the Cowboys-Commanders game dressed as a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader, but some critics told her to act her age,” she said. “Bite me!”
