Country music star Dolly Parton is changing the name of her famed “Dolly Parton’s Dixie Stampede” dinner show in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, to just “Dolly Parton’s Stampede” — a move Parton says was motivated by “cultural” concerns.
The attraction, which has several locations, features a full “Smokey Mountains-style” show which guests can watch while treated to an authentic Appalachian meal. The show itself is described as a comedic take on the differences between the North and the South, set amid the era of the American Civil War.
If it sounds a little “politically incorrect,” that’s because it is, and the show’s producers say the musical numbers and comedic skits are all in jest. But, of course, someone was bound to be offended, and for Dolly Parton’s Dixie Stampede, that person happened to be a well-known writer for the left-leaning news site Slate, who excoriated the show’s “casual racism” in a piece last summer.
Alsha Harris called the show “a lily-white kitsch extravaganza that play-acts the Civil War but never once mentions slavery. Instead, it romanticizes the old South, with generous portions of both corn on the cob and Southern belles festooned in Christmas lights.”
Harris went on to accuse the show of being “tasteless,” and compared it to the Confederate monuments slowly being removed from public squares across the country, and called it a celebration of “homegrown terrorism.”
Which probably explains why when the show closed for 2017 and made changes in advance of it’s 2018 season, the name was altered and the show itself was partially rewritten.
In a statement, Parton said the change was because of a shift in culture and because the show’s production company wanted to streamline Parton’s branding.
“Our shows currently are identified by where they are located,” Parton said. “Some examples are Smoky Mountain Adventures or Dixie Stampede. We also recognize that attitudes change and feel that by streamlining the names of our shows, it will remove any confusion or concerns about our shows and will help our efforts to expand into new cities.”
Tennessee officials weren’t quite so convinced it was a marketing problem — at least not the way Parton described. “Well, like everybody else, I love Dolly, and I love all that she’s done for our community, which is her community, and I’m disappointed that they’re yielding to political correctness,” Knox County Tennessee Mayor Tim Burchett told knoxnews.com. “What’s next? Are we going to change the name of Dixie cups and the Dixie sugar company?”
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