Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) tried to honor country music icon Dolly Parton after her death this week — and ended up publicly embarrassing himself instead.
Cruz reposted a clip from X account @lebatardshowfan showing Parton performing on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson in 1979, captioning it simply "Legend" with a string of emojis. But shortly after Cruz shared it, the account's owner swapped their display name to a crude jab targeting Cruz, meaning his tribute sat online for nearly a full day crediting a since-renamed account mocking him directly.
The new name of the account, according to the Daily Mail, was "Ted Cruz's tiny d---."
Cruz eventually deleted the post, but not before screenshots went viral and other users piled on. One user replying to Cruz's now-deleted post needled him over his political reputation for caving to pressure.
"Remember in 2016 you told the RNC Convention to 'vote your conscience' and then ultimately gave up having any backbone and backed Trump who called your wife ugly? Fun times," the user wrote.
The mockery came from across the political spectrum, including the anti-Trump group The Lincoln Project and the Tucker Carlson Network, whose namesake has repeatedly clashed with Cruz over foreign policy.
Cruz was far from alone in publicly mourning Parton, who died Tuesday at 80 after a brief cancer battle. President Donald Trump paid tribute on Truth Social, calling her "one of the greatest Country singers" and ordering flags lowered nationwide for a week. Former President George W. Bush and former first lady Laura Bush also released a joint statement praising her music and philanthropy.
Cruz's office did not respond to a request for comment on the mishap.
