Dolly Parton has responded to the petition launched last year which proposes a statue of the country music singer and businesswoman should be created and placed in the Tennessee State House, replacing the current bust portraying former Confederate general and Ku Klux Klan grand wizard Nathan Bedford Forrest.

The extremely humble Parton shared a statement to her Twitter on Thursday morning in response to the petition’s 25,000+ signatures which reads,

I want to thank the Tennessee legislature for their consideration of a bill to erect a statue of me on the Capitol Grounds. I am honored and humbled by their intention but I have asked the leaders of the state legislature to remove the bill from any and all consideration.

Given all that is going on in the world, I don’t think putting me on a pedestal is appropriate at this time. I hope, though, that somewhere down the road several years from now or perhaps after I’m gone if you still feel I deserve it, then I’m certain I will stand proud in our great State Capitol as a grateful Tennessean. 

According to local reports shared this week, a Tennessee panel will vote to remove the bust of Forrest in early March. Tennessee’s Republican Gov. Bill Lee supports the removal of Forrest’s bust.

Over the past four years, Parton notably turned down former President Trump‘s offer to recognize the country singer-songwriter with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the country’s highest civilian honor twice. Last year the Dolly Parton COVID-19 Research Fund was credited as a source of funding for the mRNA Vaccine, which has been found to be 94.5% effective in preventing the spread of the coronavirus in clinical trials thus far.