Celebrity3 min(s) read
Dollywood rival theme park sparks outrage over 'truly disgusting' comment following Dolly Parton's death
Dolly Parton's theme park, Dollywood, has been caught in the middle of a controversial social media exchange with a rival.
The country music icon died this week, with her passing announced on Tuesday (August 25), days after she'd admitted there were "so many things" that she still wanted to achieve.
Her publicist has since stated that Parton had a "brief battle with cancer" before her death, as the 80-year-old admitted she didn't pay much attention to her own "issues" while caring for her husband Carl Dean, who died in March 2025.
The team at the 165-acre theme park has addressed Parton's passing, confirming they would remain open as it was what the artist wanted.
Parton wanted to create a "Smoky Mountain fair land vibe" for her home region, which she also helped in terms of education.
Now, Dollywood has become embroiled in a small social media conflict.
Dollywood and Hersheypark exchange angers fans
One fan took to X, praising Dollywood for keeping single-day admission prices consistent at $99, posting: "And she kept the prices reasonable in this economy."
But rivals Hersheypark took to the comments, writing: "Our summer tickets are $49.99."
While the comment was deleted, many fans had taken screenshots of it and shared it around, which left several furious.
One said: "Are you guys going to offer an official apology for this TACTLESS post or keep on ignoring it?"
Others described it as 'disgusting', with the Pennsylvania-based park forced to release a couple of public statements about their deleted post.
They claimed that the reply was meant for a different conversation, saying: "We certainly respect your concern,
"A reply clarifying our ticket price in another conversation was posted without seeing the context of the chain, so we removed it quickly to avoid any confusion or insensitivity over intent. We absolutely apologize for the error."
Many didn't buy the explanation, as someone said: "This is such a big yikes…. like I'm shocked."
Hersheypark then hit back, insisting that they 'honor our industry icons' and that this was 'absolutely not the intent'.
Hersheypark release full-length statement
After continued criticism online, Hersheypark posted a longer apology, while also paying tribute to the late Parton.
They wrote: "We join the millions mourning the loss of Dolly Parton, whose generosity, talent and spirit touched so many,
"A member of our social media team noticed inaccurate pricing information about Hersheypark within a post and intended to respond directly just to that individual to correct it, not realizing the reply would appear as a response to a conversation about Dollywood.
"It was removed as soon as we recognized the context. We sincerely apologize for any insensitivity," they concluded.