FACT CHECK: No, There Isn’t A Dolly Parton & Reba McEntire ‘One Last Ride’ Tour Scheduled For 2026

If you saw “breaking news” that Dolly Parton and Reba McEntire were heading out on tour together next year, I’m here to tell you that you got fooled by artificial intelligence.

AI is running rampant on social media right now. Either you are fully aware of that (since you are trying to keep your parents from falling for it) or you are the one that’s being fooled. Feels like as good a time as any to throw this legendary George W. Bush quote out, because it’s certainly applicable in the modern times:

“There’s an old saying in Tennessee – I know it’s in Texas, probably in Tennessee – that says, fool me once, shame on – shame on you. Fool me, you can’t get fooled again.”

He absolutely nailed that old saying….

What’s funny is that everyone know that’s not how the old saying goes, yet some people can’t discern between the real and the fake on the internet. You certainly can’t believe everything you read online, and now with the introduction of the misinformation supplement known as AI, you really have to be on your toes.

Society has dubbed this sub genre of artificial intelligence as “AI slop.” And though most are able to recognize it as “fake news,” some others are falling hook, line and sinker for these fabricated news stories that are all brought together with some AI-generated images. Narrated videos often accompany the post, and if someone talks over some pictures, it’s got to be true, right? (WRONG).

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 AI stories are being churned out with reckless abandon, and they’re actually gaining traction online.

Take this one for example. Someone online used AI to craft a picture of Reba McEntire and Dolly Parton together, and slapped “One Last Ride 2026 Tour” on the top of it. They then wrote out (AI probably wrote it, actually) a paragraph or so of nothingness, explaining how the two country legends were uniting for an unforgettable tour across the country:

“Dolly Parton and Reba McEntire Announce 2026 Tour ‘One Last Ride’ — A Once-in-a-Lifetime Revival Fans Have Waited For.”

If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

Couple of things should be easy to catch right off the bat. First off, the tour announcement image is clearly made with artificial intelligence. There’s no doubt that it captured the likeness of the two country music queens, but that’s without a doubt a fake picture.

Second… there’s no other reputable source sharing this news, and a tour announcement of this caliber would be huge news. Neither Reba or Dolly has said anything about this 2026 tour either, so it’s officially debunked as certified AI slop. But the scary thing is over 24,000 people have liked the post, and over 2,000 have shared it… effectively spreading the fake news.

My advice to you (more importantly to the older people in your life) is to ask yourself a couple of questions when you see something online. If it feels like there is something off, chances are your instincts are serving you right. To be clear, I’d LOVE to see Dolly and Reba tour together. But to be even clearer, this post ain’t it.The post FACT CHECK: No, There Isn’t A Dolly Parton & Reba McEntire ‘One Last Ride’ Tour Scheduled For 2026 first appeared on Whiskey Riff.