Bill Maher delivers ‘lamest Dolly Parton tribute yet’ with crude joke following the music legend’s death, ‘Variety’ writer says
Bill Maher is facing backlash over a crude joke he made about Dolly Parton just days after the beloved country music legend’s death, Wonderwall.com can report.
During the August 28 episode of HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher, the comedian acknowledged the extraordinary outpouring of tributes to Parton around the world before making a joke about her famous figure — and the bit didn’t go over well with some viewers.
Maher’s joke falls flat
Bill Maher referenced the worldwide outpouring of tributes to Dolly Parton before making a joke about her famous figure. BY: MEGA
Maher began by pointing out how much attention the music icon’s death from cancer at 80 on August 25 had received despite everything else happening in the news in recent days.
“All this was going on, and all America could really talk about this week was how sad it is we lost Dolly Parton,” he said.
“Everybody around the country, even around the world — London, they’re doing things,” he began. Britain’s King’s Guard was among those paying tribute, performing Parton’s hit “9 to 5” outside Buckingham Palace.
“The Santa Monica Ferris wheel is lit up with hearts, the Empire State Building was put up in pink,” Maher continued.
Then he delivered his punchline. “The Sphere in Las Vegas added a ni****,” he said.
Critics react
Bill Maher’s Dolly Parton joke led to a wave of criticism. BY: MEGA
Maher’s joke drew criticism, including from Variety writer Marlow Stern, who branded it the “lamest Dolly Parton tribute yet.”
Stern was even more cutting in his review of the August 28 episode, calling Maher’s bit “one of the worst tributes” to the “late, great Dolly Parton” before responding to the comedian’s punchline with a dry, “Get it?”
Raw Story writer Tara Dublin also slammed Maher, writing on X, “Mocking our grief over losing Dolly Parton is just more proof that Trumpsimp @billmaher is a soulless ghoul who wants his own Maher-A-Lago.”
Bill Maher highlights how UNIFYING of a figure Dolly Parton was, as people across the U.S. and around the world have come together to mourn the country music icon.
“All America could really talk about this week was how sad it is that we lost Dolly Parton, and you see everyone… pic.twitter.com/b217EzdDfH— RedWave Press (@RedWavePress) August 29, 2026
Other critics piled on, too. “What an absolute a******,” one person wrote. Added another commenter, “Dolly Parton will live through the ages. Bill Maher will be forgotten three months after his death. He doesn’t like that.”
Another commenter wrote, “If I was a guest for that episode, I would have walked off.”
Another online critic invoked President Donald Trump while blasting Maher’s joke, writing, “Even Trump refused to be s***** about Dolly Parton in her passing it’s wild that Bill Maher would choose to be this much of a s*** bag about a beloved person on both sides of politics.”
Critics accuse Maher of trying too hard to be ‘edgy’
The criticism continued as other viewers took aim at Maher’s brand of humor.
“Bill Maher trying to get edgy about Dolly Parton is wild. Buddy, you’re not ‘telling hard truths,’ you’re just the guy who looked at a national treasure and said, ‘How can I make this about my bitterness?’” another person wrote.
Still another compared Maher unfavorably with two legendary comedians, writing, “Bill Maher doesn’t grasp the concept of ‘beloved entertainer.’ ‘But I’m too edgy to be beloved’ George Carlin was edgy. So was Richard Pryor. They were beloved and deeply mourned. You’re just a d***, Bill. Only a******* will be sorry when you’re gone.”
“What a pompous a**,” still another critical viewer wrote.
Added another, “I completely understand where he’s coming from. Seeing a person who spent most of her life trying to unite people through music and basic decency and empathy being celebrated and revered all week must be a foreign concept to him.”
Quipped another, “Luckily Bill won’t have to worry about this happening when he dies.”
Not everyone was offended. One commenter called it a “silly joke that Dolly would have laughed over.”
In a 1977 interview with Barbara Walters, the singer-songwriter explained that she didn’t worry about people pigeonholing her over her looks.
“I know they make fun of me. But actually, all these years [people] have thought the joke was on me, but it’s actually been on the public,” she said. “I know exactly what I’m doing, and I can change it at any time … I make more jokes about myself than anybody. I am sure of myself as a person. I’m sure of my talent and I’m sure of my love…”
Parton laid to rest beside husband Carl Dean
Three days after her death, the “I Will Always Love You” songwriter was laid to rest during a private funeral, her great-niece Lainey Parton confirmed in an emotional Instagram post.
The small August 28 service was held at Woodlawn Memorial Park and Mausoleum in Nashville, where Dolly was interred beside Carl Dean, her husband of nearly 60 years, who died in March 2025 at 82.