Dolly Parton

Dolly Parton's nephew and longtime head of security said in a Tennessee court filing Tuesday that he was a close friend and ally of Parton's longtime manager Danny Nozell before Nozell took out a restraining order accusing him of threatening to do violence and destroy Parton's legacy and business empire.

Seaver said he never sent threatening messages to any of Parton's businesses or business partners or their employees.

As part of the order, Seaver and SAPS must refrain from talking with or being within 1,000 feet of She's Alive employees, attorneys and business partners. The order is also meant to keep Seaver from interfering with its business relationships.

Seaver's court filing says Nozell did not react with alarm to his text messages at the time and that he agreed with or reacted positively to some of them. Seaver says Nozell encouraged him to publicly tout the military and arms aspect of SAPS as a smart business-promotion move, then turned around and used them as evidence of Seaver's capacity for dangerous violence.

She's Alive terminated Seaver and SAPS in early September, and the following week petitioned for the restraining order against him, arguing that his "terrorizing conduct made their continued retention untenable."

The two sides will make their cases to Myles at a hearing on Oct. 20. Emails from The Associated Press seeking comment were sent to lawyers for She's Alive and Nozell.

"Those means are especially improper because they have been deployed as part of a calculated campaign by a trained military/private-security operative with access to an arsenal of military-grade weaponry, rather than through any legitimate commercial or legal process," the complaint read.

In one message written Sept. 1 that was cited by She's Alive, Seaver said: "I'm going to set up a podcast dedicated to ruining Dolly's brand partnerships and telling the violations these people have done on us. It's going to be great. Or f****** pay me."

"He has individually, and through his associates, made repeated written threats to Ms. Parton's staff, legal and business advisers, and others," the complaint read. "These were not ordinary workplace disputes or heated words; they were deliberate threats from a self-proclaimed heavily armed, former security operative with a military-contractor background."

Seaver argued in his response Tuesday that the order is so broad, and Parton's business reach so great, that much of Nashville and even his own relatives are off-limits to him.

Seaver said his anger and the demand were only over more than $250,000 that his company was owed for completed work by Herschend Family Entertainment, which operates Parton's amusement park Dollywood and her Songteller Hotel, which opened after her death.

He included as an exhibit a 2024 letter from Parton praising him and his company. Parton had handpicked Seaver to announce her death once she succumbed to cancer.