In short
The episode opens with tributes to Dolly Parton after her death, focusing on her influence on the gay community and self-acceptance, through the perspective of a long-time Dolly impersonator. It then pivots to a separate news segment about Meta’s $17 billion settlement over alleged teen social-media addiction, including limits on likes/reactions and cosmetic filters for kids.
Guests
Jason Cosmo, a celebrity interpreter/drag performer in Salt Lake City who has portrayed Dolly Parton for about 25 years; he’s also played Dolly in Dumplin’ and Jobelle and appeared on Younger and Good Morning America. (Other segment: Axios reporter Madison Mills, plus host Chris Bentley.)
Key claims
Parton’s songwriting about everyday experiences makes her universally relatable; her acceptance helped make her a “common thread” at places like Dollywood; her “dumb blonde” persona was an owned, empowering act. Meta’s settlement will restrict teen features (time limits, overnight blocks, reduced notifications, no cosmetic filters, and parents gaining controls).
Notable examples
Songs cited include “Jolene,” “Coat of Many Colors,” “Baby I’m Burning,” “Dumb Blonde,” and “I Will Always Love You.” Meta examples include hiding likes/reactions from kids and banning cosmetic filters.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Chapters
Tap a time to open that second in VODolly Parton's Enduring Legacy
0:46 to 2:02
Exploration of Dolly Parton's universal appeal and legacy following her passing.
“Today on the show,$17 billion is a lot of cash, unless you're an internet empire.”
Jason Cosmo: The Dolly Impersonator
2:03 to 2:50
Interview with Jason Cosmo, a Dolly Parton impersonator sharing his experiences.
“Dolly Parton impersonators, a big part of gay culture.”
Dolly's Relatable Songs
2:51 to 4:47
Discussion on how Dolly's songs resonate with everyday experiences and emotions.
“We understand you're having a tough time.”
Dolly's Impact on the LGBTQ+ Community
4:48 to 7:20
Examination of Dolly's support for the LGBTQ+ community and her cultural significance.
“Back through the years, I go wondering once again.”
Dolly's Own Struggles and Empowerment
7:21 to 9:14
Discussion on Dolly's overcoming challenges and empowering messages through her art.
“They've posted, did you know Dolly Parton was an advocate and critical financial supporter for the gay community at a time when that was stigmatized?”
Reflection on Dolly's Bravery
9:15 to 11:19
Jason Cosmo reflects on Dolly's courage and the lessons learned from her life.
“And then she could show you the real talent, the raw talent.”
Meta's Settlement Impact on Social Media
14:00 to 15:23
Learn about Meta's settlement and its implications for social media platforms.
“He wants to go after other social media companies.”
Measles Deaths in the U.S.
15:23 to 15:58
Understand the recent measles fatalities and their implications.
“We've got more coverage of this story, including interviews with some of the AGs that sued meta at hereandnow.org.”
Texas Senate Race Overview
15:58 to 18:55
Get insights into the competitive U.S. Senate race in Texas.
“Pennsylvania officials reported Tuesday that two people died of the disease in Lancaster County.”
Show Closing and Credits
18:55 to 19:45
Hear the credits and acknowledgments for the show.
“And make sure you click that follow button in your podcast player to keep up with our elections coverage.”
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:01Jason CoZmo:WBUR Podcasts, Boston.
0:06Madison Mills:I am sure of myself as a person. I'm sure of my talent. I like the kind of person that I am, so I can afford to piddle around and do diddle around with makeups and clothes and stuff because I am secure with myself.
0:23Jason CoZmo:Remembering the one and only Dolly Parton.
0:36Jason CoZmo:It's Wednesday, August 26th, and this is Here and Now, anytime from NPR and WBUR. I'm Chris Bentley. Today on the show,$17 billion is a lot of cash, unless you're an internet empire. But in addition to the money, Meta's big court settlement also comes with changes for kids on social media. Likes and reactions on posts won't be seen by kids, and then parents will also have additional controls. And lastly, this is super interesting to me, kids won't be able to use any cosmetic filters. That's coming up in about 10 minutes. But first, Dolly Parton. Was there anyone more universally beloved? A country star who crossed over into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?
1:26Jason CoZmo:a self-effacing superstar who always stayed true to her roots in Appalachia, and a humanitarian heroine with a bodacious persona she said was patterned after the town tramp, but which was really a tribute to being, quote, comfortable in your own skin no matter how far it stretches. There are so many people offering remembrances of Dolly who died Tuesday at 80 years old after a brief battle with cancer, we reached out to one fan so inspired by Dolly that they tried their hand at being her on stage. I'll let Robin Young pick it up from here.
2:05Madison Mills:Dolly Parton impersonators, a big part of gay culture. And Larry King once asked her about that. This was in 2016. She talked in her answer about why the gay community loved her even though others in her conservative Christian circles didn't love them. They've made me the poster child, I think, only because I'm so outspoken as far as just being accepting of people in general. I do not believe that we should criticize and judge other people. I think we should be accepting and loving. We are all God's children. We are who we are, and we should be allowed to be who we are. Well, those words meant a lot to Jason Cosmo, a professional celebrity interpreter in Salt Lake City, who's been portraying Dolly Parton for 25 years.
2:49Madison Mills:And Jason, we've seen the photos of you with her. So sorry for your personal loss. We understand you're having a tough time.
2:57Jason CoZmo:Thank you. Thank you so much for having me. I have been portraying Dolly and other celebrities, but Dolly's the main one for about 25 years now.
3:06Madison Mills:Yeah.
3:07Jason CoZmo:I've played Dolly in two movies, Dumplin' and Jobelle, on TV shows, Younger, Good Morning America. I met her on the red carpet. It's been quite the whirlwind. And I'm still in shock. I've realized that more people know me as Dolly Parton than they do as Jason. And it's very, she is so much of not even my career, but my identity.
3:35Madison Mills:Yeah. What is it that you'd want to get across about her?
3:40Jason CoZmo:Dolly is the most unique, incredible human being, I think. from an artistic point of view and a business point of view, everybody loves Dolly. I believe that is because she sings about, she writes about the everyday person, about the human experience.
3:59Madison Mills:Yeah.
3:59Jason CoZmo:Nine to five. Who doesn't have a job? We all have a job. Jolene.
4:04Madison Mills:Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene. I'm begging of you, please don't take my man. Everyone has been Jolene, Dolly, or the lover.
4:18Jason CoZmo:Or all three.
4:19Madison Mills:And for those who for some reason have not heard this unbelievable song, it's about a woman begging another woman, please don't take my husband from me, even though you can.
4:30Jason CoZmo:Right. Everything she writes about, you can relate to. Coat of Many Colors is being different. Smoky Mountain Memory is about being away from your family, trying to make a new start. Everybody can relate to it. Everyone can relate to dolly.
4:44Madison Mills:Well, tell us. You've told us Coat of Many Colors, her song about her mom making that beautiful coat from different colored rags for her. It resonates for you. Let's just listen for a little. Back through the years, I go wondering once again. Back to the seasons of my youth. I recall a box of rags that someone gave us. And how my mama put the rags to use There were rags of many colors Does that personally resonate for you?
5:24Jason CoZmo:Oh, yeah, yeah. I've been the underdog my whole life. And she took that experience of being made fun of and being different and turned it around and made something beautiful out of it. and we could all learn from that.
5:43Madison Mills:Well, this, you know, is why we are hearing she was so embraced in the gay community. Chris Mothers wrote in the Boston Globe today about how she did the impossible in the 70s, crossing over from country to disco, which was where, you know, the gay culture blossomed. And this was with her hit Baby I'm Burning, which was in itself a lesson in fearlessness. Let's listen. You look at me that way I know what your eyes say Your eyes reflect love and desire I see that you need me I need you to please me You touch me and set me on fire The way you're chasing me I'm like, she just said, what? You go.
6:24Jason CoZmo:Discos happen, I'm there. The gays, I'm there. All of it. And she is. And she says herself, it's a good thing she was born a woman or she would have definitely been a drag queen. She is, and she is the epitome of that. She has taken what the female is and put an exclamation point on it. The hair's a little bigger. The lips are a little bigger. The nails, everything.
6:48Madison Mills:Well, that brings us to Dollywood because, again, Chris Mothers, again, writing in the Boston Globe, wrote, Everyone from church groups to gay men in feather boas comes together there, families of all types, happily sinking their teeth into thick loaves of fragrant cinnamon bread. You know, she's the common thread. She's the common thread that brings so many people who, sadly, sadly, you know, sometimes outside Dollywood, don't get along. And I just want to add one more thing. The AIDS Memorial is eulogizing her today. They've posted, did you know Dolly Parton was an advocate and critical financial supporter for the gay community at a time when that was stigmatized?
7:29Madison Mills:Her production company made the film Common Thread Stories with names from the AIDS quilt. So please, go ahead, comment on this relationship to that community.
7:40Jason CoZmo:She's just always accepted everyone. Having spent 25 years playing her and meeting people after the show and seeing how they love this woman, and they are very different walks of life, and that's because she has embraced everyone and loved everyone equally.
8:00Madison Mills:You know, there was a time when it wasn't always this way. I can remember when she was caricatured, you know, as a kind of a blonde Betty Boop. And she then acknowledged that in a song called Dumb Blonde. This is from her 1967 debut album. Absolutely. You know, she did not write this, but she says she spent her life, you know, her life living it. Let's listen. You flew too high off the ground. It's stormy weather and I've come back down But I've found new thread for my old school Just because I'm blonde don't think I'm dumb Cause this dumb blonde ain't the world but it's full Oh, Jason, it's 1967.
8:53Jason CoZmo:I love it. I love it. Dolly always said, you can call me a dumb blonde all you want, because I ain't dumb. And I ain't blonde. And I think she loved to wear the rhinestones and the sequins and the wigs. And she owned it. She never pretended like it was anything other than what it exactly was. And I think she did this, so it was kind of like, look over here. Look at me. And then she could show you the real talent, the raw talent. And in a lot of ways, that's kind of what I'm doing. And then once she got your attention, she could give you her real message, which wasn't dumb at all.
9:33Madison Mills:I'd like to do a song for you now that I wrote. This is a song that I had out a few months back and maybe you might enjoy this one. Much has been made of how I Will Always Love You was written for her Grand Ole Opry mentor and performing partner, Porter Wagoner. And, you know, like a love song. And that's what it became when Whitney Houston sang it. but she wrote it, she said one night, to tell him, and these are my words, that she was in effect firing him. Now this was, you know, before the women's movement had really gained steam, and when you see her singing it early on, she was kind of scared, and when you see pictures of them performing together, he's hovering over her, she almost looked like a marionette, you know, and here she was.
10:13Madison Mills:Yeah, okay, you agree.
10:15Jason CoZmo:Oh, yeah, and she says it. She says they got along like oil and water, But she respected him and what he did for her and for her career. But she needed to move on. You talk about the women's movement. She's a very big part of that.
10:31Madison Mills:It was an act of bravery.
10:33Jason CoZmo:Oh, yeah.
10:34Madison Mills:Is that part of what she also gave you?
10:39Jason CoZmo:Yes, absolutely. She wasn't scared of anything. Well, I'm sure she was scared of things, but probably the most... Yeah, I'm so sorry. Yeah, I'm sorry. I will say there's many times in my life where it sounds silly, but you say the saying, what would Dolly do? What would Dolly do? And I've literally said that to myself and done some pretty brave, gutsy things. Yeah.
11:10Madison Mills:Well, she's cheering you on.
11:13Jason CoZmo:I hope so.
11:15Madison Mills:Jason Cosmo, celebrity interpreter in Salt Lake City Thank you
11:20Jason CoZmo:Thank you so much If you're not done saying goodbye to Dolly Parton then how could you ever be? There is lots more to listen to at npr.org We've got podcasts, stories about her life, her music, her work, giving back Check it out As Dolly Parton said, more is more After the break, Robin gets some reaction to the$17 billion settlement that Metta will be paying a coalition of state attorneys general that said the owner of Facebook and Instagram got kids addicted to social media.
11:54Madison Mills:Thank you so much. We'll be right back after this commercial. Thank you.
11:57Jason CoZmo:Stick around.
Read the full transcript
11:59Madison Mills:Changes to Instagram and Facebook should be coming. Today, parent company Meta agreed to a$17 billion settlement with a bipartisan coalition of state attorneys general whose lawsuit alleged that Meta deliberately built its platforms to addict kids and teens, something whistleblower Frances Hogan and others said they saw firsthand. Now, as part of the settlement, Meta will have to change how those apps function and how its business works. Senior Axios reporter Madison Mills is here. Madison, the lawsuit sought as much as$1.4 trillion. $17 billion seems like not enough to divide between states, but how did it get reduced?
12:37Jason CoZmo:Yeah, it's certainly a very small fraction of what was initially anticipated, which tells us as reporters that there's the potential that the states were the ones to maybe move in the direction of some form of settlement here, because obviously$17 billion is quite a big haircut from the trillion dollar potential of this settlement here. But it also comes alongside sweeping changes to Meta's platforms for teens that are using them. So we can talk about those.
13:06Madison Mills:Well, the attorneys general, that's what they want. They wanted Meta to be forced to change its app. So what has happened and what has it agreed to?
13:13Jason CoZmo:Yeah, so they've agreed to sweeping changes really for under 18 users. Things like time limits, two hours a day on Facebook and Instagram. Blocking from the platform from the hours of midnight to 6 a.m. Also, it seems like they're going to be limiting notifications during school day hours. Likes and reactions on posts won't be seen by kids. And then parents will also have additional controls, things like being able to see what their kids are searching on the platform. And lastly, this is super interesting to me, kids won't be able to use any cosmetic filters on the platform as well.
13:47Madison Mills:Well, Meta had been losing court cases in New Mexico and California. So they probably saw the writing on the wall here. But the stock, Meta's stock spiked. Investors may be breathing a sigh of relief. We had Kentucky's attorney general on when opening statements began in this case. He said Meta's just the beginning. He wants to go after other social media companies. Do you think they will start changing their policies in advance of that?
14:11Jason CoZmo:Yeah, well, what's fascinating is that a big part of this settlement for Meta calls on other competing social media platforms to make the same changes. They've issued a letter to YouTube and TikTok specifically asking them to make the same changes. Meta argues that if kids can't use their platform, they'll just go somewhere else. So it doesn't really work unless others get on board. Of course, as a finance reporter, we think of this as Meta wanting to make sure that their competitors face the same drawbacks that Meta is going to in this new world order here. also Meta as part of this settlement is also looking for YouTube and TikTok to pay something back to states as well, which is another super interesting element to follow.
14:51Madison Mills:If somebody told me that I deliberately made something that addicted children, I'd be hanging my head in shame. Just real quick, Madison, has there been any mea culpa, any apology?
15:00Jason CoZmo:I mean, it's fascinating, right? We're hearing Meta saying that there needs to be societal change here, but in the same breath saying that teens have lots of great experiences on Instagram. And so it's not so bad. I would be really interested in seeing whether they roll out larger changes going forward here if pushback continues.
15:19Madison Mills:Senior Axios reporter Madison Mills, thank you. Thank you.
15:33Jason CoZmo:We've got more coverage of this story, including interviews with some of the AGs that sued meta at hereandnow.org. But right now, we've got to take one more short break.
15:57Jason CoZmo:So more news we're following today at hereandnow.org, including the first deaths from measles in the U.S. so far this year. Pennsylvania officials reported Tuesday that two people died of the disease in Lancaster County. Both were unvaccinated. Here's State Secretary of Health Debra Bogan. Because the MMR vaccine essentially eliminated measles here in the United States decades ago, people have forgotten how serious it can be, especially for the very young, the pregnant and the very old. More at hereandnow.org, where you'll also find coverage of some big races this election season. Today, a closer look at the race for U.S.
16:40Jason CoZmo:Senate in Texas. Jessica Taylor of the Cook Political Report told Scott Tong, Republican Ken Paxton and Democrat James Tallarico are shaking up the politics of deep red Texas. Paxton has both personal and professional baggage, allegations of wrongdoing in his job and different things. And so he is a very polarizing figure versus you have the state representative, James Tallarico, the Democrat, who is raising a ton of money. Paxton's fundraising is lagging behind and is trying to win over disaffected Republicans and independents in a way that so far looks like it might be working. Now, this isn't an easy prospect, but there is a third party candidate, a libertarian on the ballot, that if some Republicans defect to him, that could allow Tallarico to win without needing to reach a majority.
17:26Jason CoZmo:In one of your recent pieces, you write that Democrats this summer have experienced a sugar high. What do you mean? Sometimes we do see in the summer that these polls are very good for Democrats. I like to think of polls as a snapshot in time that Tallarico and Paxton are tied as of now. But as some of these undecided voters lean toward deciding or move into their partisan camps, We could see this race change. It just underscores the fact that this is a double-digit Trump state. It's not easy for Democrats to win, as you mentioned, decades since that has happened. So we could change the rating back, but right now we have to call it a toss-up.
18:06Jason CoZmo:Yeah. And how about money? You mentioned kind of fundraising. As far as Paxton, is it clear where the money is going to come for him to get his word out in the fall? There's, you know, MAGA Inc., Trump's super PAC does seem like it's ready to finally open its coffers. There's also been reporting that Elon Musk may sort of pony up some of the money here. National Republican groups that also have money in their bank accounts, they'd rather spend that on other seats that they're defending, places like Iowa, North Carolina, Maine. There's a lot of places that they're on defense, so they need to be saving their money for some of those seats as well.
18:44Jason CoZmo:Jessica Taylor of the Cook Political Report. There's more to that conversation, and you can listen to it all, as well as check in with voters in Florida at hereandnow.org. And make sure you click that follow button in your podcast player to keep up with our elections coverage. We'll bring you lots more than just the horse race for the next three months or so.
19:09Jason CoZmo:That's it for the show today. Here and Now, Anytime comes from NPR and WBUR Boston. Today's stories were produced by Lynn Menningon, James Mastermarino, Sam Rappelson, and Ashley Locke. Our editors were Todd Munt, Chico Theorty, and Micaela Radviquez. Technical direction from Caleb Green and Nick Dusall. Our theme music is by Mike Moschetto, Max Liebman, and me, Chris Bentley. Our digital producers are Alison Hagen and Grace Griffin. And here at NOW's executive producer, sewing together our coat of many colors, is Alan Price. Thanks for listening. We'll be back with you tomorrow.
From the publisher
And, Meta has to pay $17 billion in a settlement with a number of U.S. states over intentionally getting teenagers addicted to Instagram and Facebook. In addition, the company must make changes to its apps to make them safer for minors. Senior Axios reporter Madison Mills explains more.
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