Dolly Parton's Glastonbury Festival Performance Raises Miming Controversy

Dolly Parton excited many fans who have heard she would perform at the Glastonbury Festival. Around 100,000 fans turned up to see her perform, making her act one the most popular in this year's Glastonbury Festival, Independent UK reports. Fame must be a double-edged sword because the large turnout made her more vulnerable to criticism, especially those fans who were really scrutinizing how she performed. According to Telegraph UK, Dolly Parton disappointed many fans who believed she was just miming in a supposedly-live performance. Television viewers concurred that Dolly was not singing live. Dolly's spokesperson however denied these allegations.

Telegraph UK reports that television viewers think Dolly Parton was just miming on the Festival. Her appearance on the Pyramid Stage is now mired in a controversy because of this. The reaction is not contained among television viewers though. In fact, it was Sky News presenter, Kay Burley was the first to tweet this reaction. Kay reports, "Oh, Dolly is miming. How disappointing," Telegraph UK reports. Her tweet caused a wildfire among many people using the same social networking site. Stephen Fry tried to defend Parton and said it was the delay in the television that made it look as if Parton was miming.

Stephen Fry made a series of tweets to defend Dolly. He tweets, "I think I know quite a lot about how TV is made. Why are people saying Dolly Parton is miming? She's fooling me..."

He followed this with another tweet that goes, "Believe me, that is not miming. If it appears not always to lip-sync that's an HD live processor issue. You see it with news reporters."

His comments were not accepted by many.

Parton's spokesman immediately denied these allegations. "No, she sings live," he shared to the the Sunday Mirror. "Some people don't know an amazing singer when they hear one."

Dolly Parton though once said she is not averse to miming or lip-syncing. Back in her 2004, "Hello, I'm Dolly" tour, she claimed she is open to the idea of miming. She shared the following statement to fan website Dollymania: "Yes, there are portions of the songs in the show that are prerecorded. I tell you that at the beginning of the show when I say, 'If you notice some enhancement or doctoring in the show, it's not to fool or trick anyone. It's an effort to entertain by being able to have a bigger production and, hopefully, a better sound."