Country music legend Dolly Parton continued to share her support for black lives after her first comments on the subject went viral over the summer.
Parton emphasized that “black lives matter” during an interview with Billboard published Saturday.
“I don’t really realize it until it’s already said. I just answer from my heart when somebody asks me a direct question,” Parton told the outlet. “I love everybody. And, of course, Black lives matter. We all matter. We’re all God’s children. I hope people learn to love one another a little more than they do, and if I can be any help in that respect, then I hope to be.”
Parton became something of a hero after her original comments on the movement went viral. She even had a mural painted of her and her quote, according to Billboard. (RELATED: Dolly Parton Weighs In On Black Lives Matter Movement And The Protests)
New Dolly Parton Mural in Nashville Honors the Singer’s Support of Black Lives Matter https://t.co/GILFvIXv10
— People (@people) August 18, 2020
“And of course Black lives matter,” Parton reportedly said at the time. “Do we think our little white a*ses are the only ones that matter? No!”
Parton has been quick to join social movements. Back in 2018, two years before country music bands began moving away from Civil War references, Parton renamed her dinner attraction, going from “Dixie Stampede” to “Dolly Parton’s Stampede.”
“There’s such a thing as innocent ignorance, and so many of us are guilty of that,” Parton said during an interview with Billboard. “When they said ‘Dixie’ was an offensive word, I thought, ‘Well, I don’t want to offend anybody. This is a business. We’ll just call it The Stampede.’ As soon as you realize that [something] is a problem, you should fix it. Don’t be a dumb*ss. That’s where my heart is. I would never dream of hurting anybody on purpose.”