CNN Apologizes To Dolly Parton’s Family For Mistakenly Airing Photo Of Impersonator

CNN has issued an apology after mistakenly airing a photo of a Dolly Parton impersonator during coverage of the country music icon’s death.

After Parton died at age 80 on Tuesday, that night’s episode of Laura Coates Live featured a photo of Las Vegas celebrity impersonator Kelly Vohnn, for which the news network has since apologized.

“We regret the error and apologize to the Parton family,” said a CNN spokesperson in a statement shared with Deadline.

Vohnn asked the media to “do better due diligence” as she noted in a statement that the photo was taken at the Song Sung Blue premiere last year, where multiple impersonators were invited.

“The last few days have been devastating to myself and to millions of people around the world. But I do want to clear the air on a very, very important subject,” she said in a video. “It has been brought to my attention that news outlets are using my likeness once again and saying that I am Dolly Parton.”

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Vohnn continued, “I want to say, in no way, shape or form, have I ever given permission to anyone to allow them to use my image and say that I am Dolly Parton. I would never fool people that way. I am an impersonator. People know that they’re buying tickets to see an impersonator, and I would never say that I’m Dolly Parton.”

Parton’s family announced that she died in Nashville on Tuesday following a brief sickness with cancer. The 11x Grammy winner had dealt with health issues over the past year.