CNN has issued an apology to the family of Dolly Parton after mistakenly displaying a photograph of an impersonator instead of the country music icon during a live broadcast.
The error occurred approximately seven minutes into the program "Laura Coates Live" on Tuesday, about 12 hours after Parton's family had announced her death. During a segment intended to honor the late singer, host Laura Coates introduced senior correspondent Shimon Prokupecz, who was reporting from Nashville.
As Prokupecz spoke about Parton's career, a series of images of the singer was shown. However, the sixth photograph featured Kelly Vohnn, a well-known Dolly Parton tribute artist based in Las Vegas. Vohnn has been performing as Parton and other musical artists for over 26 years.
In a statement to the Daily Mail, a CNN spokesperson said, "We regret the error and apologize to the Parton family." The image in question was reportedly taken on December 16 at a movie screening in Las Vegas, according to Getty Images.
Vohnn, who has been impersonating Parton for more than two decades, expressed her dismay. "Somebody at CNN really messed up and didn’t do their research," she told The New York Post. She added that she had been heartbroken by Parton's death and found seeing images of herself on CNN "weird."
Vohnn also took to Instagram to address the incident, writing to The Dollywood Foundation, "I want everyone at @dollyfoundationdonation to know that I did not give anyone my likeness to be used in anyway to fool people into thinking I am the real Dolly Parton. This has happened a couple of times now and it’s not ok. I don’t own these images. We need reporters to do better due diligence when broadcasting to prevent #fakenews."
This is not the first time CNN has had to apologize for on-air inaccuracies. In July, host Audie Cornish apologized for quoting a fake congressman's social media post. In March, Abby Phillip offered an on-air apology after mistakenly reporting that a suspected attack near a mayor's home had targeted him specifically, when it had actually targeted protesters.