She’s truly an angel on earth. In February, it was announced that East Tennessee Children’s Hospital in Knoxville would officially be renamed Dolly Parton Children’s Hospital in honor of the country music legend and her history of giving back to the Tennessee community. Thanks to her long history of support for various children’s hospitals over the years, most notably the recent star-studded re-release of her 1977 hit, “Light of a Clear Blue Morning,” which saw all proceeds from the song fund pediatric cancer research at Monroe Carrell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt in Nashville, the Tennessee native received a huge honor because of all of her years of support, as well as a more recent, very, very large contribution. View this post on Instagram Located at 2018 W Clinch Avenue, Knoxville, Tennessee, the hospital has been open since 1937. Over the years, it has remained one of the leading pediatric centers in the state, boasting nearly 20 locations, including primary cares, urgent cares, surgery centers and rehabilitation facilities, in East Tennessee. In a statement at the time of the announcement, Dolly would express how honored she is to stand alongside the hospital and bring hope, comfort and healing to the children and their families when they need it most: “Being fortunate to have grown up in the mountains of East Tennessee, I learned early on what it means to take care of one another. Every child deserves world-class care, wrapped in kindness and love. I’m so honored to stand alongside this hospital and do my part to help bring more hope, more comfort and more healing to children and families.” And during a recent conversation with Chief Healthcare Executive, Dolly Parton Children’s Hospital CEO Matt Schaefer called it a “surreal moment” to get the news of Dolly’s donation, saying Dolly had her “incredibly disarming personality” on display the entire time, and he called it “humbling” to hear her talk about how important this is to her family and community, and of course, the children who will benefit from it: “It was truly humbling, and to hear her, in her own words, talk about the importance of this to her, to her community, to this organization, and to children, was super affirming.” Through the donation, he explained that they hope to recruit more doctors and build on fundraising, in addition to investing in new programs and technology: “I think anytime you have someone of her stature, someone of her standing, certainly in this region, across the United States, across the world, honestly, and to have the halo effect of everything she stood for in her life, including her love for children in particular, it just is fantastic for the future of our mission. While he tactfully declined to reveal the exact dollar amount of what Parton donated (partially due to her request, I would imagine), it sounds like it was an incredible amount of money that Dolly has committed to, as Schaefer called her donation “generational and transformational,” so you can imagine how much that probably amounts to: “What I can tell you is that she has made a generational and transformational commitment to Children’s and its mission, and that commitment is something that goes beyond our wildest expectations, that is beyond generous, and will be a lifeline for this mission for now and for years to come. And we’re excited about and humbled by her willingness to do so.” Of course, the monetary value of her donation will do incredible things, but having her name and backing alone means a lot too because what it: “Allows us to do is to tell a broader story about the depth and breadth of services here, to imagine how we can continue to expand those services, and it accelerates how we should think about what our responsibility is to the patients and families that trust us today and invariably will trust us tomorrow.” They will do “a little bit of everything” with the money, and they’re hoping to build on a lot of what they’re already doing: “What Dolly’s partnership is allowing us to do, is to amplify and accelerate some of those initiatives in a way that we could not have done otherwise without that type of support and backing and awareness across the region, for providers, for clinicians, for patients, for families and for referring providers.” He adds: “I believe that will continue to help us as we do things like residency recruitment and train pediatricians, as we recruit talent to this region, and I hope that’s a big part of how Dolly coming alongside our mission helps us do more than we could have in any imaginable way.” Of course, Schaefar says they feel a “pressure” to live up to the expectations of Dolly because she’s such a well-known philanthropist and truly wonderful person, and they want to be able to reach the same expectations Dolly has set for her entire career to go above and beyond for not only her fans, but those less fortunate than her, especially in her hometown, as is evidenced by this donation: “I think that we feel pressure to live up to those expectations. I’m proud of the work that Children’s has done over its almost-90-year-history to be well-positioned. To imagine Dolly Parton coming alongside us, I think that that speaks well as to our history about some of those key values. But I would also say, as I’ve said to our team, however high the bar was yesterday, it’s higher today. And that is not, in any way, shape or form, a prideful way of talking. I think that’s just an appropriate way of talking. And you know, if we’re not reaching for something more and better for the patients and families we serve after this, then we’re not honoring the confidence that has been placed in us.” Of course, living up to the legacy of Dolly Parton and her record of giving so generously is no small task, but it sounds like the team at Dolly Parton Children’s hospital is up for it and I have no doubt she trusts them very much considering she’s given what is clearly an exorbitant amount of money in an effort to help the sweet little ones of East Tennessee and their families that find themselves at that hospital. For as incredible as her music and entertainment career has obviously been, and we all know she’s one of the all-time greats to put it lightly, Dolly’s heart and generosity somehow continues to be on par with that, and it’s hard to name any other star at her level who gives as much as she does. Dolly’s an example to us all, and she is truly a national treasure we must protect at all costs. “Light of a Clear Blue Morning”  The post East Tennessee Children’s Hospital, Now Named After Dolly Parton, Says She Donated “Generational & Transformational” Amounts Of Money first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

Fake news stories really are everywhere… and this post involving Jason Aldean and Stephen Colbert is one of the latest examples. I’m sure you are well aware of people and accounts out there online that only exist to deceive others. Well, I at least hope that you are. Because it’s a real problem in 2026, and it’s only getting worse thanks to the misinformation supplement known as AI. Gone are the days where you could just trust what you see. Now, you have to fact check and cross reference just about everything you come across. Though I’d say most people are able to recognize “fake news,” there are a concerning amount of others that tend to fall hook, line and sinker for fabricated news stories. Most of them are brought together with a simple graphic or AI-generated image. Then you’ve also got those narrated videos that sometimes accompany the post, and for some reason, if someone is talking over a picture slideshow, people take it as gospel. I can’t even begin to tell you how many I’ve come across as I’ve surfed the web… it’s truly concerning. The only thing more troubling to think about are the thousands of people that are watching and consuming these stories and believing them. With social media being the main source of news for a large amount of the population, these fabricated stories are being churned out with reckless abandon, and they’re actually gaining traction online. One of the latest is this fake story involving country music star Jason Aldean and late night host Stephen Colbert. Granted, both men have been in headlines in recent years for voicing their opinions about their respective sides of the political aisle. Maybe that’s why this fake news source decided to pit them against one another, and run with this story that Aldean walked off Colbert’s show. The first giveaway that this isn’t true? The show Colbert hosts is called “The Late Show,” and not “Late Night.” Right off the bat, there’s something wrong. But some kept reading and became triggered by this: “Jason Aldean walked off the set of Late Night with Stephen Colbert before playing a single note after the ‘comedian’ tried to humiliate him in front of the audience. ‘Colbert was introducing him,’ said Aldean’s manager, Ben Jarroo, ‘Then he made a crass, unnecessary statement about ‘forgiving him’ for supporting President Trump. Jason wasn’t having it.’ When Colbert said his name and motioned for the curtain, there was nobody there. Aldean and his band had walked off, and they won’t be coming back.” Jason Aldean walked off the set of Late Night with Stephen Colbert before playing a single note after the "comedian" tried to humiliate him in front of the audience. "Colbert was introducing him," said Aldean's manager, Ben Jarroo, "Then he made a crass, unnecessary statement… pic.twitter.com/W4YezKlVHz — Myrna

You’d think people would know better by now, but it seems there are plenty who keep falling for these fake quotes on social media. The latest victim is Carrie Underwood, who already found herself under fire last year for performing during the inauguration of President Donald Trump. A parody account on X apparently tried to take advantage of the people who are somehow still mad about that performance, and posted a fake quote from the “Jesus Take the Wheel” singer aimed at Michelle Obama. In the wake of comedian Druski releasing a skit of himself in whiteface mocking Erika Kirk, wife of late Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, the parody account claimed that Underwood proposed dressing up in blackface to mock the former First Lady: Carrie Underwood on Druski’s recent skit: “Maybe someone should do a blackface skit of Michelle Obama” pic.twitter.com/8JigQpJEly — Hoops Crave (@HoopsCrave) March 26, 2026 The only problem is that it’s clearly a fake quote. Just completely fabricated. And the account that posted it even notes in its biography that it’s a parody account of the popular “Pop Crave” account. Despite the fact that it’s clearly (a pretty poor attempt at) parody, the tweet still managed to rack up 11k likes so far and nearly 2,000 replies, most of whom appeared to believe that it was an actual quote from Carrie. Well the country superstar recently appeared at a Nashville Predators game alongside her husband, former Preds captain Mike Fisher, for a promotional night in which fans were given bobbleheads of the celebrity couple. Because everybody loves a good bobblehead, am I right? But anyway, the Preds posted a photo of the power couple from the game to their Instagram account, which apparently caught the attention of the same idiots who believed the fake quote. And as a result, the Preds were flooded with troll comments from people outraged at the fake quote and threateningly urging Carrie to go through with her plan to wear blackface: The post currently has around 1,200 comments, most from people who don’t seem to realize that the quote was completely fake and made up. That’s just how the internet works these days I guess. Get outraged first and verify later. Of course it’s the second time in the past week that the Preds have had to deal with a social media backlash, after the team went viral for hosting a “Pride Night” last week that drew criticism from some high-profile voices on the right: The predators logo is celebrating lgbtq pride. The jokes just write themselves pic.twitter.com/BGPoRTEIfH — Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) March 26, 2026 The outrage was so loud that the Preds issued a statement standing by their decision to host the theme night, which featured a national anthem performance from a group called The Cowgays as well as performances from LGBT artist Brady Riley during the period breaks: “We understand that initiatives like Pride Night, Faith and Family night, Recovery Night, Women of Smashville Night, Ford Military Week and celebrations for Black History, API and others can be meaningful and affirming for many, while others may see them differently. We respect that our fan base is diverse not only in identity, but in viewpoint. That diversity is part of what makes our community strong. We believe that hockey is for everyone. As an organization, we remain committed to fostering an environment rooted in respect, inclusion, and a shared passion for hockey. We will continue listening to our fans, supporting one another, and focusing on what unites us: the energy of the game, the spirit of competition, and the shared connection that we have in our team and our city.” However, OutKick pointed out that the team left their “Faith and Family Night” promotion off their calendar, which the team blamed on an oversight: When I asked the Predators why "Faith & Family Night" AKA Christian Night was not only omitted from their Theme Night promotional calendar, but why is it not an arena-wide event like Pride Night, the team said: "That must’ve been an oversight when that graphic was initially… https://t.co/YK9IMMfVUf pic.twitter.com/1CKEWkZ3SA — Jon Root (@JonnyRoot_) March 29, 2026 Tough week to be on the social media team for the Predators.The post Nashville Predators Fans Flood Instagram Comments After Falling For Fake Carrie Underwood Quote On Michelle Obama first appeared on Whiskey Riff.