Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is reflecting on his past interactions with Dolly Parton, but many people online suggest he’d be better served by taking the time to “learn a thing or two” from the late country legend’s legacy.

Not long after Parton’s death was announced Tuesday, Bezos shared a throwback photo on Instagram showing him seated beside the 11-time Grammy winner at an event.

“Dolly spent her whole life showing us what it means to lead with love. Lauren and I are so grateful to have known her,” he wrote, alluding to his wife, Lauren Sánchez Bezos. “She lifted everyone with her music, her generosity, and her joy. Sending our sincere condolences to her family and everyone she touched.”

By Tuesday afternoon, Bezos’ post had drawn a plethora of negative comments from Instagram users who urged the tech billionaire to take Parton’s lead and “strive to be a better person” by using his “wealth to help others as she did.”

“Yeah, I think her message was lost on you and your wife, Jeff. Don’t dishonor this woman with performative gestures,” one person wrote. “Honor her by actually following her example. Try putting humanity ahead of profits. You could inject so much good into the world if you chose to.”

Added another: “Dear Jeff: Dolly was the antithesis of everything you represent.”

Not surprisingly, his tribute got more generous responses from the likes of Sánchez Bezos and Khloé Kardashian, both of whom shared a series of sad emojis.

Bezos, who has an estimated net worth of $269 billion, has drawn sharp criticism for currying favor with President Donald Trump, in what many believe is an effort to protect his fortune. Amazon also paid $75 million for the rights to Brett Ratner’s documentary “Melania” about first lady Melania Trump.

In 2013, Bezos bought The Washington Post, only to gut a third of its workforce in February of this year.

Though Parton had amassed a reported $650 million fortune through her entertainment and business ventures, the singer-songwriter was also a dedicated philanthropist. In 1995, she founded Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, a program that provides free books to kids from birth to age 5. Her other charitable acts include a $1 million donation to Vanderbilt University Medical Center in April 2020 that funded early-stage research for the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine.

“I always count my blessings more than I count my money. I don’t work for money, never did,” she told CBS “Sunday Morning” in 2019. “It was the art, it was the job. I love to work, and I’ve done well and I’m thankful for it.”

Parton’s nephew, Bryan Seaver, on Tuesday confirmed his aunt’s death at age 80, but did not disclose the cause.

“Dolly has lived in the light and is in the arms of Jesus, surely met by Carl, her parents and countless others who have watched her and longed to meet her in the heavens,” he said in a video posted to Instagram, alluding to Parton’s late husband, Carl Dean.

In an interview with People conducted Aug. 21, however, Parton herself acknowledged she’d recently been grappling with “some health issues that I just didn’t pay attention to” prior to Dean’s 2025 death, but steered clear of specifics.

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