Within hours of Dolly Parton's death being announced Tuesday, Ricky Schroder, the Silver Spoons and NYPD Blue actor who played Parton's father Robert Lee Parton in her 2015 NBC movie Dolly Parton's Coat of Many Colors and its 2016 sequel, posted a photo of himself with Parton and a caption that drew immediate and widespread criticism.
"I didnt agree with her advocating for Transgender & Covid Vaccine support…but Loved her anyway," he wrote. "Thank you for choosing me Dolly to be your Movie Daddy."
He then posted to his Instagram Story suggesting her death might be connected to the COVID vaccine, "I warned Dolly to not support the Experiment.
Wished she listened," implying without evidence that a vaccine she received in 2021 was connected to her death 80 years into her life.
Katie Couric responded with a single word: "Ick." Members of the band Garbage responded with a different word. Boy George and dozens of fans piled in.
The throughline in every response was the same, a tribute that leads with what you disagreed with the deceased person about is not a tribute.
Dolly Parton spent decades as one of the most vocal and consistent supporters of the LGBTQ community in country music, long before it was common, and donated $1 million to Vanderbilt University to fund research that helped develop the Moderna COVID vaccine, which she later received on camera and wrote a parody of Jolene about.
Schroder has not responded publicly to the criticism.