CNN apologized on Thursday for using photo of a Las Vegas drag performer in a tribute to the late country music icon Dolly Parton.
Dolly Parton died Tuesday, August 25, at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center in Nashville, Tennessee, after a brief battle with cancer. She was 80.
CNN apologized to Dolly’s family for using a photo of drag performer Kelly Vohnn in news coverage of Dolly’s death.
“We regret the error and apologize to the Parton family,” CNN told The New York Post in a statement on Thursday.
CNN aired the photo of Vohnn on Tuesday during a Dolly Parton tribute segment. Vohnn said the image was taken at a Las Vegas screening of “Song Sung Blue,” starring Kate Hudson and Hugh Jackman.
“I started getting all these texts from friends saying that I was on CNN, and I couldn’t believe it,” Vohnn told The New York Post.
“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.”
“Somebody at CNN really messed up and didn’t do their research,” Vohnn added.