Dolly Parton’s Death Is Now Being Used to Attack Meghan Sussex

A new As Ever product launch has somehow become the latest excuse to drag Meghan Sussex into a controversy that has absolutely nothing to do with her.

On August 24, Meghan’s lifestyle brand began promoting its new Spiced Apple Butter, a seasonal product inspired by a recipe she first shared years ago on The Tig. In an email sent that day, As Ever teased the product as “Coming Soon” and confirmed that it would arrive on August 26. The rollout was therefore already underway before news of Dolly Parton’s death broke on August 25.

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Tributes immediately poured in for the country music legend, whose career spanned seven decades and whose philanthropy made her one of America’s most beloved public figures.   And somehow, those two completely unrelated events were stitched together into a Meghan scandal.

OK! Magazine highlighted criticism of the timing, while RadarOnline reported that Meghan’s announcement came roughly four hours after news of Dolly’s death. Other outlets quickly picked up the same angle, with stories accusing Meghan of being “tone-deaf” or disrespectful over the timing.  

I genuinely do not understand how Meghan Sussex releasing a product on August 26 became a moral scandal simply because Dolly Parton had died the day before.

Product launches are typically planned in advance, and in this case, As Ever had already started promoting the product the previous day. The world does not stop every time a public figure dies, however beloved they may be. And there is no obvious connection between Dolly Parton and spiced apple butter that somehow makes the timing offensive.

Even Dollywood remained open as fans gathered there to remember its founder. Life and business did not simply stop everywhere because Dolly had died.

That is what makes this feel like another excuse to have a go at Meghan. Because what exactly was she supposed to do? Cancel a planned business launch? Post a tribute and risk the press accusing her of making Dolly’s death about herself? Say nothing and face criticism anyway? At some point, the standard becomes impossible because the point is no longer what she actually did. The point is finding something to be angry about.

Final Thoughts

And this is why the ‘Meghan is irrelevant’ argument the media love to pronounce never makes sense to me. If she is so irrelevant, why does something as ordinary as a product announcement generate this level of attention?

You do not even have to like Meghan to see how absurd the scrutiny has become. In stories like this, Meghan’s biggest offence seems to be simply existing, working and sticking to plans she likely arranged long before anyone knew what the day would bring.

The irony is that publications criticising her for supposedly being disrespectful were themselves working, publishing stories and making money on the same day. Everyone else was allowed to continue with their jobs. But the media expected Meghan to enter a national period of mourning over apple butter.

And with Harry and Meghan reportedly arriving in Britain, I suspect the press will only make this kind of coverage even more deranged. Every launch, appearance and social media post now gives the press another chance to claim Meghan overshadowed, offended or disrespected someone.

At some point you have to ask whether the controversy is actually Meghan, or the industry that seems determined to manufacture one around almost everything she does becuase clearly she is not irrelevant.