The internet was flooded with countless tributes to Dolly Parton after her death on Aug. 25 at the age of 80 years old. But some of the images, videos, and songs that have been distributed online aren’t Dolly at all. They’re AI slop, and the entertainer’s sister, Stella Parton, is getting frustrated with it all.
“First let me say, thank you to the ones of you who have shown ‘genuine’ support and love during this time of our family bereavement. We will be okay in time but each of us will grieve in our own personal way,” Stella Parton wrote in a post to Instagram, putting scare quotes around the word genuine.
She went on to write about how every family feels pain and loss in life, with the Parton family being no different. But she shared what can make that loss unique when someone is so important in the public imagination.
“Sadly, because of the way our lives have been lived in front of the public, we have no choice but to be subjected to incredible pressure and insensitivity from strangers,” Stella Parton wrote. “There is a tremendous amount of Al and endless garbage being posted everyday and it’s been challenging to absorb and or ignore.”
She continued by writing that, “As time passes, those who are in the business of exploiting the loss and tragedies of others on a daily basis will move on to the next stampede of endless misinformation.”
It’s unclear if there was one AI video, song, or image in particular that most irked the singer’s sister. She didn’t elaborate. But there’s no shortage of AI garbage featuring Dolly online.
One of the most prominent examples came from President Donald Trump, who posted an AI image of himself with Dolly Parton two days after her death. Trump and Parton were never photographed together and it doesn’t appear that there’s evidence they ever met in real life. Trump ordered flags to be flown at half-staff in her honor, though he never mentioned in his Truth Social post that the two ever met, something he would have been likely to do if it had actually happened.
Another particularly cursed AI monstrosity featured Dolly Parton arriving in heaven to find Tupac, Michael Jackson, and Marilyn Monroe. The last shot of the video also includes George Floyd and Charlie Kirk.for some reason.
Dolly was not in favor of AI, according to an interview she gave to the UK news outlet Metro in 2023.
“I hope nobody can ever replicate me or what I do. AI is a scary thing,” Parton said at the time. “I’m sure it’s a good thing for scientists or medical things. But when it comes to trying to duplicate a human being and every little thing they are, it don’t seem right to me. It’s too much.”
Dolly went on to note that even the people working in AI are “scared by it” and said she was watching the technology carefully.
“I’m sure they’ll be able to do certain things with me and other artists. It’s one of the reasons why we’re having the big strikes here with the Actors’ Guild and Writers’ Guild. Nobody wants to be duplicated. Everybody wants to feel the talent they have is theirs. I’m keeping my eye on AI,” said Parton.
Unfortunately, people have been replicating her since her death. Albeit poorly. One YouTube video mixes AI versions of Elvis Presley, Whitney Houston, and Dolly Parton together for a song that never happened. Disturbingly, the comments are filled with people who think it’s a “wonderful tribute” to Parton.
Still another video on Instagram showed an AI Dolly driving into heaven, complete with some absolutely horrendous animation where her car is clearly “driving” in the wrong direction. Many fans likely see this kind of thing as a tribute to the legendary singer, but her surviving family is clearly irked by it.
The daughter of Robin Williams asked people to stop making AI images of the late actor in 2025 when that became commonplace. Williams died in 2014 but after AI video creation tools became mainstream in 2025 people started making AI videos of deceased celebrities, which is a confronting thing for family members to watch.
Scammers are also using Dolly Parton’s image for various scams, according to Newsweek, which is no surprise. Allure Security identified social media scams using Parton’s image in the days following her death, and celebrity impersonation scams are incredibly common. Parton’s work with charitable organizations would make her an appealing tool for fraudsters looking to raise money by tying themselves to her charity work.
Dolly Parton was by all accounts an incredible person. It’s easy to see why her family members would find this kind of thing so disgusting. AI versions of Dolly are the opposite of a wonderful tribute. They’re a bastardization of what made her special. And anyone who prefers AI slop of Dolly when she left humanity with such large body of work really needs to take a long hard look in the mirror.
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