Internet duped by fake Dolly Parton TikTok account

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Fans of Dolly Parton have been duped by a fake TikTok account they believed to belong to the country music star.

Parton appeared to make her debut on the social media platform on Sunday (26 September) with a video in which she is seen sitting down by her keyboard.

The 75-year-old then apparently says: “Why hello, I guess I’m on TikTok! I just dropped in to say everything’s gonna be OK, you keep the faith.”

Within one day, the account earned 500,000 followers. Thousands of fans, including The Fault in Our Stars author John Green, commented on the video to share their excitement at seeing Parton on the platform.

The profile, however, has since been removed and banned. Many users on social media have since voiced their confusion at the sudden deletion of Parton’s alleged profile.

In a statement given to Today, a spokesperson for the “Jolene” singer clarified that the account was fake.

They explained that an unverified user had taken an old video from Parton’s Imagination Library and “doctored it”.

According to its website, the Imagination Library is a book gifting program that mails free books to children.

The spokesperson urged people to “take a closer look” at the clip, noting that TikTok had since removed the video.

A spokesperson for TikTok also confirmed to the publication that the video had been removed for violating the platform’s community guidelines around impersonation.