CNN aired a photo of a Las Vegas tribute performer instead of Dolly Parton during her death coverage.
The network broadcast the image roughly 12 hours after Parton died on Tuesday, during the program “Laura Coates Live.” The woman shown on screen was Kelly Vohnn, a 58-year-old singer who has built a career performing as a Parton tribute act. Vohnn was not Dolly Parton. CNN used her photo anyway.
The network confirmed the mistake in a statement to the New York Post. “We regret the error and apologize to the Parton family,” a CNN spokesperson said. The outlet said it corrected the error after it aired.
According to a report, Vohnn found out she had appeared on CNN the way most people find out surprising news, through a flood of text messages from friends. The photo of her was taken in December at a Las Vegas screening of “Song Sung Blue,” a film starring Kate Hudson and Hugh Jackman.
“I started getting all these texts in from friends saying that I was on CNN, and I couldn’t believe it,” Vohnn told the New York Post. She said she was already grieving Parton’s death when the news hit her. “I was already heartbroken at losing Dolly because of how much she has given to me as a woman and an artist. But then to see these images of me on screen was just weird.”
Vohnn did not hold back when describing what went wrong at the network. “Somebody at CNN really messed up and didn’t do their research,” she said. She pointed out that decades of genuine Parton footage and photography existed for the network to draw from. “Over her career there are so many wonderful images and moments that they could have chosen from, and CNN just picked something not appropriate.”
She also took care to clarify her own professional identity. Vohnn has never claimed to be Parton. She has always operated openly as a tribute performer. “I have never represented myself as being Dolly ever in my life,” she said. “I have always been known as a tribute act for her and many other stars. It was quite embarrassing, to be honest.”
The incident drew attention not just for the mix-up itself, but for the timing. Airing the wrong image during coverage of a beloved artist’s death, within hours of her passing, made the error particularly pointed. CNN acknowledged the mistake and extended its apology directly to the Parton family.