Whoopi Goldberg Defends Dolly Parton’s Cowboys Halftime Show Outfit

Whoopi Goldberg isn’t here for critics of Dolly Parton‘s revealing Dallas Cowboys halftime show outfit.

“Seventy-seven-year-old superstar Dolly Parton stole the show on Thanksgiving at the Cowboys-Commanders game dressed as a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader, but some critics told her to act her age,” Goldberg, 68, said on the Monday, November 27, episode of The View. “Bite me! Everybody that participated in this, you should be ashamed of yourself.”

Goldberg’s cohost Sunny Hostin agreed with her sentiment, adding, “If I look like that in one of them Cowboys things, I might have everything out. I don’t know if that’s a belly ring or what, but I want what she has.”

Parton, 77, took the stage during halftime at the Dallas Cowboys and Washington Commanders game on Thursday, November 23. For her performance, the “Jolene” songstress dressed up in the official Dallas Cowboys cheerleader uniform, which featured a blue crop top paired with a white star fringe vest and tiny white shorts. Under her ensemble, Parton added a sparkly sheer bodysuit that had a metallic star on her torso.

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While Parton amazed fans with her music, singing songs “Jolene” and “9 to 5,” some people weren’t too thrilled with her ensemble.

One user on X (formerly known as Twitter) wrote, “77-year-old women shouldn’t be on stage pretending their [sic] 20. They should be at home spending time with loved ones and family.”

However, plenty of less judgmental fans were blown away by Parton’s outfit — including former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo.

“Wow, that’s pretty good. She looks amazing,” Romo, 43, said before Parton’s halftime performance. “She’s wonderful. Who doesn’t like Dolly Parton?” Sportscaster Jim Nantz agreed, adding, “She is absolutely an American treasure, that’s for sure.”

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Dolly’s sister Stella Parton also took to social media to defend her older sibling.

“I personally thought my big sister Dolly was cute as hell in her Dallas Cowboys cheerleading costume at the half time show on Thanksgiving,” Stella, 74, wrote via X on Sunday, November 26. “To those of you being so critical of a 77 year old kicking up her heels, I say f–k yourself. Shame on you not her.”

Dolly’s amazing halftime performance look comes nearly one month after the country superstar admitted that she had received physical and verbal punishment from her grandfather for her now-famous style.

“I’m very sensitive, I didn’t like being disciplined,” she said in an October interview with The Guardian, adding that she was “willing to pay for” accepting the punishment from her grandfather for her fashion. “Sometimes there’s just that part of you that’s willing, if you want something bad enough, to go for it.”

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Dolly noted that she got inspiration for her looks from the “town tramp” from a young age.

“She had bright red lipstick, long red fingernails,” she explained. “She had high-heeled shoes, little floating plastic goldfish in the heels of them, short skirts, low-cut tops, and I just thought she was beautiful. When people would say, ‘She ain’t nothing but trash,’ I would always say, ‘Well, that’s what I’m gonna be when I grow up.’”