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Dolly Parton at the 2019 Newport Folk Festival
Photo: Douglas Mason / WireImage
How can it be that Dolly Parton has not yet been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom?
That was one of several so-called "questions no one has ever asked Barack Obama";
It was put to the former US President by late-night talker Stephen Colbert.
It started out funny, about which ice cream he prefers (Wendy's Frostys) and which character in Monopoly (the car because it won't tip over).
Then the subject came up to the country singer Parton.
And Obama said: "That was a mistake." He probably always thought that Parton would have long since received the highest civilian honor in the USA.
“I screwed up.
She deserves one.
I'll call Biden. "
As funny as it was meant, many Americans might ask the same question, as Parton is something of a national treasure.
She is known as the big, strong, independent lady of country music.
Obama himself honored Diana Ross, Gloria Estefan, Bob Dylan, Stevie Wonder and Bruce Springsteen (and 2011 German Chancellor Angela Merkel), among others.
Parton is also a successful business woman, she has had sovereignty over her own artistic work for a long time.
This year, the 74-year-old also appeared very differently: Parton had donated one million dollars (about 850,000 euros) to the Vanderbilt University Medical Center in the US state of Tennessee in April.
Among other things, research was carried out there in collaboration with Moderna on a corona vaccine, which, according to the first significant results, has an effectiveness of 94.5 percent and has applied for approval in the EU.
"I'm a very proud girl today - knowing that I was involved in something that will help us get through this crazy pandemic," Parton said recently.
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