{"id":332470,"date":"2026-08-29T03:43:02","date_gmt":"2026-08-29T03:43:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/332470\/"},"modified":"2026-08-29T03:43:02","modified_gmt":"2026-08-29T03:43:02","slug":"dolly-parton-said-she-once-lost-look-alike-contest-to-drag-queen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/332470\/","title":{"rendered":"Dolly Parton said she once lost look-alike contest to drag queen"},"content":{"rendered":"

After the August 2026 death<\/a> of legendary country singer, businesswoman and philanthropist Dolly Parton, people began sharing various stories about her life on social media. Among them were posts<\/a> claiming<\/a> she once lost a Dolly Parton look-alike contest to a drag queen.<\/p>\n

Snopes readers searched our website to verify the claim.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Parton herself had shared the story many times throughout her life. Although there was no evidence suggesting she made it up, we couldn’t verify the tale with a second source. As such, we were unable to rate the claim.<\/p>\n

According to the CBC<\/a>, Parton mentioned that she had lost a Dolly look-alike contest in her 2012 memoir, “Dream More.” Snopes confirmed that the detail was present in the book.<\/p>\n

In interviews with Ellen DeGeneres<\/a>, Robin Roberts<\/a> and ABC’s Nightline<\/a>, she recalled that the contest was held at a gay bar on Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles and said she decided to enter on a whim because she lived up the street.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Those details checked out. According to SF Gate<\/a>, Parton had either rented or owned property in the West Hollywood area since the 1980s. West Hollywood has long been home to a vibrant LGBTQ+ community<\/a> and, as of this writing, Google Maps showed several gay bars in the area on Santa Monica Boulevard.<\/p>\n

Parton decided that she would over-exaggerate her most famous features for the contest. But she didn’t tell anyone who she was.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“All these beautiful drag queens had worked for weeks and months getting their clothes. So I just got in the line and I just walked across, and they just thought I was some little short gay guy,” she told Nightline. “I got the least applause.”<\/p>\n

While that version of the story suggests Parton lost to a drag queen, the detail is sometimes omitted, meaning it can’t be categorically proven either way.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For further reading, we compiled 20 stories about Dolly Parton<\/a> from our archives.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSources<\/p>\n

CBC. “Dolly Parton Entered a Dolly Parton Look-Alike Contest. And Lost.” CBC Radio, 18 May 2023. CBC.ca, https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/radio\/undertheinfluence\/dolly-parton-entered-a-dolly-parton-look-alike-contest-and-lost-1.6848403.<\/p>\n

Client Challenge. https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/sf-culture\/article\/dolly-parton-california-life-22403612.php. Accessed 26 Aug. 2026.<\/p>\n

“Discover Why WeHo Is an LGBTQ+ Destination Like No Other.” Visit California, 19 Feb. 2015, https:\/\/www.visitcalifornia.com\/experience\/lgbtq-west-hollywood\/.<\/p>\n

Dobrin, Nikki. “Did Dolly Parton Covertly Enter Look-Alike Contest \u2014 and Lose to a Drag Queen?” Snopes, 11 Mar. 2024, https:\/\/www.snopes.com\/\/news\/2024\/03\/11\/dolly-parton-lookalike-contest\/.<\/p>\n

Hall, Kristin M., and ANDREW DALTON Leer en espa\u00f1ol. “Dolly Parton, Music Star, Actor and Beloved Figure Who Spanned Generations, Dies at 80 of Cancer.” AP News, 25 Aug. 2026, https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/dolly-parton-death-country-icon-87156f3e6a1547b88bf414529b644ad3.<\/p>\n

News, A. B. C. “5 Things You Might Not Know About Dolly Parton.” ABC News, https:\/\/abcnews.com\/GMA\/InTheSpotlight\/dolly-parton-talks-robin-roberts-gma\/story?id=9063556. Accessed 26 Aug. 2026.<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014. “Dolly Parton on Gay Rumors, Losing a Drag Queen Look-Alike Contest and New Memoir.” ABC News, https:\/\/abcnews.com\/Entertainment\/dolly-parton-gay-rumors-losing-drag-queen-alike\/story?id=17812138. Accessed 26 Aug. 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After the August 2026 death of legendary country singer, businesswoman and philanthropist Dolly Parton, people began sharing various…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":332471,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":["post-332470","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332470","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=332470"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332470\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/332471"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=332470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=332470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=332470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}