When Dolly Parton got rich, she didn’t build a rocket and take up space tourism.
She didn’t buy a yacht so big that it required a mini-yacht for support.
And she didn’t become a billionaire. In fact, she worked really hard to avoid that fate. [1]
In contrast, Jeff Bezos built a suspiciously-shaped spacecraft for pleasure rides in orbit, while down on Earth Amazon workers fought to unionize for safe workplaces and fair wages.
His yacht is so big it can’t park with the Zuckerberg yachts. He has to drop anchor with oil tankers instead.[2]
And he’s a billionaire. Hundreds of times over.
Amazon workers, the people who created his wealth with their literal blood, sweat, and tears–and sometimes lives–are still fighting for wages that pay the bills and working conditions
free from backbreaking productivity quotas.
Jeff just “honored” Dolly after her death on his Instagram page, but we don’t think he really gets it. [3]
Today, we’re creating a space for all of us to channel both our rage at the billionaire class and our grief at the passing of Dolly, an icon and absolute gem of a human being.
Together, let’s tell Jeff Bezos what honoring Dolly Parton really looks like: living a life of generosity and integrity, not greed.
In Solidarity,
The Labor Force
[1]https://observer.com/2026/08/philanthropy-why-dolly-parton-never-became-billionaire/
[2]https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/30/us/bezos-superyacht-florida.html
[3]https://www.instagram.com/p/DceV10sgYLL/