Yahoo News Dolly Parton joins Call Me Kat for emotional Leslie Jordan tribute: 'I will always love you'
Dolly Parton filmed a moving musical tribute to her late friend, Leslie Jordan, that aired Thursday as part of the Fox sitcom's winter premiere.
"Usually at a memorial, people talk about somebody. Well, I'm going to talk to you, because there is that place on the other side, and I'm certainly going to see you there, little brother. You left a lot of people here with a lot of precious, precious memories. Everybody loved you, but I doubt many of them loved you more than I did," Parton said of the actor and comedian in the video above, which opened with the 76-year-old singing a portion of the song "Where the Soul Never Dies" — a tune she recorded with Jordan for his 2021 album Company's Comin'.
FOX; Lisa Rose/FOX Dolly Parton pays tribute to Leslie Jordan on 'Call Me Kat.'
"I just want you to know that we all love you, we all miss you, and I bet you're having a big laugh over all of us being sad and sorrowful," Parton continued of Jordan, who died on Oct. 24 at age 67. "And I know that would be the last thing you would want us to be. You made us happy while you were here, and we're happy that you're at peace. I just want you to know that I will always love you. Goodbye, my sweet Leslie. See you over there."
Jordan starred on the comedy in a supporting role as a baker at a cat café run by the titular character, portrayed by producer-star Mayim Bialik. Thursday's winter premiere ended with the show's main cast — including Bialik, Cheyenne Jackson, Kyla Pratt, Julian Gant, and Swoosie Kurtz — addressing the audience.
"What we've done here is given Phil a happy ending. What we're really doing is mourning the loss of our dear friend, Leslie Jordan," she said. "He is irreplaceable. We will miss him very much. Love, light, Leslie."
Bialik recently told EW how the show dealt with Jordan's passing, including the decision to write his character, Phil, off in a joyous way (he moved to Tahiti after getting married) instead of a somber one.
"It was obviously a tragic and devastating personal loss for all of us, and he and Cheyenne [Jackson] had a much longer relationship than this show, so it was especially devastating for Cheyenne. But the fact is, we were mid-season, we have a lot more to go. We were also right in the middle of filming an episode that needed to be rewritten and restructured and emotionally rebuilt so that we could figure out how to handle it," she said. "We did have to work quickly, and I really do credit Kelly-Anne Lee, our online producer. She and her team, our whole production team — it was a group effort. There were so many moving parts. Our main interest as a cast — and I really was thinking more as a cast member rather than an executive producer — was how do we honor our friend while also honoring a grieving process that doesn't end with two weeks off production?"
You can watch Parton's tribute to Jordan above, and the show's final scene honoring the late star below.
Call Me Kat airs Thursdays on Fox.
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