Dolly Parton’s nephew Bryan Seaver was allegedly barred from the CMA tribute to the late country legend amid his legal battle with her estate.
“What a beautiful tribute. I was not invited. Nor was my daughter, Dolly’s songwriting guitar playing, claw hammer finger pickin progeny,” Seaver wrote in a Facebook post Thursday.
“The rest of my entire family was invited. A few attended. My kids and I were told not to attend. Such is life…” he concluded.
The live broadcast “CMA Presents I Will Always Love You: A Celebration of Dolly Parton” took place at The Fisher Center for the Performing Arts on Wednesday in Nashville, Tennessee.
Reba McEntire, Katy Perry, Kelsea Ballerini, Carrie Underwood and more stars came out to honor Parton.
Seaver’s bitter message comes after he was removed from his longtime security post at Parton’s estate and was hit with a restraining order from the late singer’s manager, Donny Nozell, last month.
In his lawsuit against Seaver, Nozell — who was Parton’s manager for over 20 years — claims he is trying to extort him for money and has been threatening him.
The docs include messages from Seaver, allegedly threatening, “All I do is warfare… everyone needs to be worried what I might do.”
Seaver defended his messages to TMZ, telling the outlet, “Nothing in this lawsuit were threats and most of the comments I stand by.”
“I was talking frankly in a private way with Danny who I thought was my friend and he fancies himself a gangster,” he further explained. “A lot of these messages are two guys having rage talk and crying on the phone together while we were grieving.”
Page Six exclusively reported that Seaver allegedly intimidated staffers at the late country singer’s Nashville hotel and museum, per Nozell’s lawsuit.
However, a source exclusively told us that Nozell may have ulterior motives in pursuing this lawsuit against Seaver.
“He wants the family out of the picture, and wants to turn her house into Graceland,” an insider told us, noting that “Danny doesn’t have the heart that Dolly did.”
Seaver, who was the one to announce Parton’s death in August, hit back at Nozell and his lawsuit in an exclusive statement to Page Six.
“Mr. Seaver has always been a private person, but he was chosen by his aunt, with his family’s approval, to make the announcement about Dolly’s passing,” attorneys Dominic J. Leonardo and James L. Collier said in a statement on behalf of Seaver.
“He would have preferred to remain a private person as this ordeal has taken a toll on his family,” the statement continued.
“While the family was grieving, the business manager went to Court and the media with a surprising and incomplete story.”
“Seeing text messages that are misleading and taken out of context has been very hurtful to our client and his family.”
Parton passed away at 80 on Aug. 25 after a brief battle with cancer.
