Stella Parton, Singer and Sister of Dolly Parton, Criticizes Politicians in Rant About COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout

Stella Parton, younger sister of Dolly Parton, had something to say to the politicians currently receiving the coronavirus vaccine, sharing her thoughts on Twitter on Friday, Dec. 18. Stella pointed out the fact that her sister donated $1 million to Vanderbilt University for research into a cure for COVID-19, criticizing politicians for failing to do the same and pointing out the irony of the fact that they have been among the first people to receive a vaccination.

“If a little Hillbilly singer like my big sister Dolly can invest in the vaccine then why the hell can’t some of you old moldy politicians pitch in a few million yourselves?” she wrote. “I noticed you started getting vaccinated right away while people are starving and dying you Aholes.” A tracker from Bloomberg shares that over 1.8 million people worldwide have been vaccinated, including over 550,000 in the United States. That number encompasses a number of politicians including President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Stella’s tweet has over 385,000 likes as of Monday morning and was followed up with a message aimed at televangelists reading, “I haven’t heard of one Televangelist donating one damn cent to the research fund but they sure can fleece the flock and try to cast out demons when they are possessed themselves!”

Dolly Parton made her donation to Vanderbilt University earlier this year, and her contribution was partially used to fund Moderna’s vaccine, which was recently approved by the FDA and is now being rolled out nationwide. The country music icon found out about her contribution shortly before an interview with Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager on the Today show. “I’m just happy that anything I do can help somebody else, and when I donated the money to the Covid fund, I just wanted it to do good,” she told the hosts. “Evidently, it is. Let’s just hope we find a cure real soon.”

Parton added to BBC’s The One Show that she felt “very honored and very proud” to be a small part of something that could aid in ending the pandemic. “I just felt so proud to have been part of that little seed money that will hopefully grow into something great and help to heal this world,” she said. “I’m a very proud girl today to know I had anything at all to do with something that’s going to help us through this crazy pandemic.”