‘Do f**k off’: JK Rowling lashes out after huge backlash over ‘disgusting’ Dolly Parton tribute

JK Rowling has responded to a wave of backlash after paying tribute to Dolly Parton following the singer’s death.

The iconic singer, actress and entrepreneur died aged 80 on Tuesday after a brief battle with cancer, prompting tributes from celebrities, musicians and fans around the world.

JK Rowling was among those mourning the country music icon, praising Parton’s long-running Imagination Library scheme and recalling meeting her backstage in the 1990s.

“Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library was the best contribution to child literacy ever made by a celebrity,” Rowling wrote on X. “Our paths crossed once, in the ’90s, backstage at a talk show, and I was completely tongue-tied and starstruck. RIP Dolly. You were a complete, irreplaceable one-off.”

It was, on the face of it, a fairly straightforward tribute. But Rowling’s long-running controversy over her views on trans rights meant that people were more interested in questioning why she was praising Parton in the first place.

One person replied to Rowling, “It should have been you.”

Rowling then shared the comment and hit back, “Top tips for wishing death on people in public. Blocking the target is useless if you’ve signposted your real name and university in your bio.”

Top tips for wishing death on people in public, @b4byfirefly. Blocking the target is useless if you've signposted your real name and university in your bio😘 pic.twitter.com/fHVSTiRLJ0

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) August 25, 2026

And that was only the beginning. Another user told Rowling, “You know you and Dolly have nothing to agree upon, you f**king monster.”

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Rowling replied with a reference to one of Parton’s best-known songs, writing, “Well, joke’s on you, because neither of us want Jolene to take our man.”

Well, joke’s on you, because neither of us want Jolene to take our man. pic.twitter.com/0rrPU2tqrb

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) August 25, 2026

She also responded after another person attempted to associate Parton with Donald Trump.

“Oh, do f**k off,” Rowling wrote. “At a conservative estimate, Dolly Parton was 100,000x the person you are.”

The argument over Parton’s political views is particularly notable because she spent much of her career avoiding being firmly aligned with either side of US politics.

In 2020, Parton said, “I am not political, and I refuse to get caught up in political things. I don’t like to get involved in politics, because first of all, I have as many Republican fans as I do Democrats.”

She had also been offered the Presidential Medal of Freedom by the Trump administration twice, but declined on both occasions.

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