Highlights
- J.K. Rowling paid tribute to Dolly Parton following the country legend’s death at 80.
- One critic told Rowling, “It should have been you,” prompting a sharp response from the author.
- Rowling also clashed with other users over Parton’s LGBTQ+ advocacy and alleged political views.
Rowling was among the celebrities to honor Parton after the singer, actress and philanthropist died at 80.
In a post on X, Rowling praised Parton’s Imagination Library, the literacy program that provides books to children, and recalled meeting the star backstage at a talk show in the 1990s.
“Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library was the best contribution to child literacy ever made by a celebrity,” Rowling wrote. She added that she had been “completely tongue-tied and starstruck” when their paths crossed.
She ended the tribute by calling Parton “a complete, irreplaceable one-off.”
The post soon attracted criticism, with some users pointing to the contrast between Parton’s long-standing LGBTQ+ advocacy and Rowling’s controversial views on transgender issues.
Rowling responds to ‘it should have been you’ comment
One response went further than criticism of Rowling’s views. An X user, @b4byfirefly, replied to her tribute: “It should have been you.”
Rowling shared the comment with her followers and directly responded: “Top tips for wishing death on people in public, @b4byfirefly.”
She continued by warning that blocking the person being targeted would not necessarily hide their identity if they had publicly listed personal details in their profile.
The exchange became the most prominent confrontation surrounding Rowling’s tribute, with the author making clear that she viewed the comment as a public wish for her death.
Rowling hits back at more critics
The author did not stop with that exchange. Another X user told Rowling that she and Parton had “nothing to agree upon” and called her a “f—ing monster.” Rowling responded with a reference to one of Parton’s most famous songs, Jolene.
“Well, joke’s on you, because neither of us want Jolene to take our man,” she wrote. The comment referenced Parton’s 1973 song about a woman pleading with another woman not to take her partner.
A separate user also suggested that Parton had supported Donald Trump. Rowling dismissed the claim with another blunt response.
“Oh, do f— off. At a conservative estimate, Dolly Parton was 100,000x the person you are,” she wrote.
Rowling’s responses have now become part of the wider reaction to her tribute, shifting the focus from her original message about Parton’s legacy to the heated exchanges that followed it.
