US country music star Dolly Parton has come out in support of Black Lives Matter, in a rare comment on politics.

She told Billboard Magazine: “Do we think our little white asses are the only ones that matter? No!” With a broad fan base that spans the right and the left, the singer generally eschews political subjects. Her comments come amid a nationwide reckoning on race that has impacted all of US society, including country music. Although Ms Parton has not attended Black Lives Matter marches, she said she supported anti-racism activists’ right to protest. “I understand people having to make themselves known and felt and seen,” she told the music magazine.

The entertainment mogul – who owns Dollywood amusement park in her home state of Tennessee as well as other attractions – also spoke about her decision in 2018 to drop the “Dixie” from her Dixie Stampede attraction. A 2017 article in Slate critiqued Ms Parton’s attraction, calling it a “lily-white kitsch extravaganza”. “Dixie” was often used as a nickname for the southern states that made up the Confederate States of America during the US Civil War era.(BBC)…[+]