Joy Behar thinks Dolly Parton’s hit song “Jolene” is “anti-feminist” — so she’s turning up the volume on Beyoncé’s new remake.
“I like the subject of Beyoncé taking over the lyrics. I just think that the original thing with Dolly Parton is so, like, anti-feminist, worrying about some good-looking woman taking your man,” the “View” co-host said in Wednesday’s episode of the “Behind the Table” podcast.
“If it’s so easy to take your man, then take him! Beyoncé says, ‘If you take my man, you’re gonna be in a lot of trouble,’ and I say, ‘Go ahead, take my man, take him!'”
Despite calling the 1973 original “anti-feminist,” Behar, 81, clarified that she considers Parton, 78, a “feminist” and called the country music icon “the best.”
Beyoncé, 42, made headlines last Friday when she released a reimagined cover of “Jolene” on her “Cowboy Carter” album.
In Parton’s version, she sings, “I’m begging of you, please don’t take my man,” whereas Queen Bey cautions, “I’m warnin’ you, don’t come for my man.”
Toward the end of the song, Parton sings that her “happiness depends on you, and whatever you decide to do, Jolene,” but Beyoncé significantly changed the final lyrics in her updated take.
“You don’t want this smoke, so shoot your shot with someone else. You heard me,” she snarls.
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Parton previously shared her approval of the new version and is even featured on “Cowboy Carter” in an introduction to Bey’s “Jolene.”
“Hey, Miss Honey B, it’s Dolly P. You know that hussy with the good hair you sing about? Reminded me of someone I knew back when, except she has flamin’ locks of auburn hair, bless her heart. Just a hair of a different color, but it hurts just the same,” she says.
After Beyoncé’s country album dropped, Parton took to Instagram and wrote, “Wow, I just heard Jolene. Beyoncé is giving that girl some trouble and she deserves it! Love, Dolly P.”
“Cowboy Carter” has received praise from music critics, fans and celebrities alike.
Page Six reviewed the 27-song record — which also includes collaborations with Willie Nelson, Miley Cyrus and Post Malone — as “the revival that country music so desperately needed.”
