To find this Dolly joke meme in bad taste?

@ITanya78 @Deadringer @sittingonabeach @Jane379 @shadowsinthegroceryline et al.

TBH on the musicians forums I'm on - where the vast majority of posters - singers, songwriters, guitarists, bass players, drummers (they even let them in!) etc are men - there has been nothing but wholesome appreciation for her talents as a songwriter, performer, entrepreneur, for her philanthropy, her wit, generosity of spirit, etc - the forums have quickly filled up with many heart felt comments even from people who don't like country music - she's appreciated not just for her talents in music but for being a thoroughly decent and compassionate human being - that she should be appreciated just for that, I think, that marks her out as a very special person indeed. I've not seen a single misplaced comment. That was a life "well lived"!

I think it’s quite funny (and a female colleague posted it to our group chat).

They were implants. She chose to have huge breasts! As someone with natural huge breasts I’m at a loss as to why anyone would want to inflict that on themselves.

She always said that being bought in grinding poverty, to a level we can’t imagine, over here, grounded her. She didn’t worry about non-important stuff. She just went with what she had.

She donated royalties from The Coat of Many Colours, which she wrote, in honour of her mother, to charity. She said it was a true account.

She knew what family love was, but she knew what real poverty did as well. She just took a pragmatic view - use what you’ve got and win the day. Which she did. And she gave a lot of money to those affected by poverty. Plus, her father was illiterate so that’s what started her donating books to so many children. 👍

There will never be another Dolly Parton. One of a kind. 🥂

I've always wondered if she joked about them because she knew men certainly would and she wanted to 'get there' first. (I also had very huge breasts, and navigating the world with what many men see as 'a dirty joke' on your chest can be very difficult and unpleasant).

Yes. Anyone with any brain cells knew what they did, laughed and said ‘good on you’.

Both were generous, both were up for a laugh, both had talent of different kinds, both made happy memories for others, and both did life as they wanted to.

To suggest they were some sort of victims is a bigger insult than tasteless jokes.

We should all salute women like them - not try to make them victims. 👍

RIP - both of them. 😉

Early 70's? I am 55 and can never remember this but maybe I was too young to realise?

Dolly always had the last laugh .....RIP queen

Absolutely. Both had a golden combination of talent and looks and used them to good effect. Both also did a great deal for charity, giving generously of their time and their money.

@shadowsinthegroceryline "I would hope that most people could see that there is a clear difference between a woman making, often witty and self-deprecating remarks about her own appearance and strangers on the internet, probably mostly men, ignoring her life and legacy and reducing her to two body parts in order to make a cheap and crass 'joke'."

Beautifully put and I totally agree. I stupidly thought we'd gone past the stage of men reducing women to body parts. But it seems it's still alive and well and perfectly acceptable on Mumsnet. Dolly laughing at herself is not in any way comparable to a bunch of random men on the internet using her dead body for a cheap joke.

Yeah - Dolly Parton and Barbara Windsor were strong, independent, feisty women, who knew how to play the game, and do it all with a smile, some giggles, and enhancing their ‘assets’ for effect. They both knew how to laugh at themselves - a rare thing nowadays.

To suggest that they were somehow ‘suppressed’ by men is completely nuts.

They were both popular, enjoyed some dirty laughs, and did life on their terms, with no navel gazing. .

As it should be. 👍

"It takes a lot of money to look this trashy"

Absolute legend

It’s a meme. All memes are slightly offensive/on the edge. If you find this much much worse than any others, I suspect you’re probably a little sensitive on the topic.

I'm sorry for your loss.

I'm reminded of Scott Mitchell putting 'that' photograph on the back of Barbara Windsor's order of service, because she'd always joked that the scene of her bikini coming off in Carry on Camping would 'follow her to her grave'.

As Barbara's husband, Scott was best placed to judge what would have brought a smile to his late wife's face. It's harder to say whether that kind of risqué humour is inappropriate when it's an internet meme by randoms - probably for Dolly's loved ones to make that call rather than Mumsnetters.

Well, yes, but if you feel like that, someone talking seriously and respectfully about your mum would have triggered you as well.

My world crashed when my DH died, but I’m quite happy to share and laugh, with others, about his funny little ways. He’d have loved it. 😊

Probably because she was from a time when women were told to appease men and she would have been told she was no fun if she didn’t laugh along. It’s hard to shake that off when you’ve been brought up to be that way, even when it’s 2026 and things are apparently better.

Whether or not she might have made a joke about her appearance, or even laughed about such an image herself, isn't the point. It's not particularly funny, and if anyone of my acquaintance circulated such an odd image, I would definitely judge them for doing so.

Most people I know have shared very different reactions to the news of her death, because they loved her/ her music/ her philanthropy/ her personality & outlook on life. This has nothing to do with any of that, and is a very strange & reductive (& seemingly sexist) way to speak of any woman after her death.

There's no such thing as a joke after someone has died.
If someone had made a joke about my mum it would have just triggered my pain again, even now a year after her passing.
It doesn't matter whether they would have found it funny if they were still here. It's just a reminder that they are not here to have an opinion.

Part of her charm was that she could always laugh at herself. And I’m sure she would laugh at this.

Real bad taste was the ‘jokes’ flying about after Diana died - and this was before social media. 🤷‍♀️

Dolly would have laughed her head off. That's why she was so refreshing in this politically correct, humourless world.

Not as bad as the Daily Hate posting the 911 call to Tim Curry's house online today.
Yuck.

But yes, you'd think we'd have gone past Dolly's breast jokes by now.

I feel a bit sad about this. Yes, she probably would have laughed but as others say it’s a bit reductive.
A truly amazing talent and a lovely person.

Yes: that and prurient speculation about her sex life. Even her self-deprecating humour only went so far and this was her line in the sand. She refused to be drawn.

Yet, the minute she was gone, some people started turning over the dirt. Her sexuality was her own business and she quite rightly defended herself to no one.

Edited to add the point that even those who want to keep their politics to themselves struggle in today's climate. You either have to wave visible symbols of adherence or you're seen as 'not one of us', or worse, not a 'safe' person by the standards of some groups who flock together. But I don't want to do that. First and foremost I simply want to be a person; one with every right to keep my own counsel. The world isn't queuing up to hear my opinion, and that's the way I want it.

I understand where she was coming from.