Wisconsin School Bans Miley Cyrus and Dolly Parton's Duet Over Controversial Reason

A performance by first graders at a local Wisconsin elementary school was brought to a stop as they attempted to perform Country Music Icon Dolly Parton and Pop Star icon, Miley Cyrus' Rainbowland which included lyrics about accepting the LGBTQ community and was thus found controversial by Heyer Elementary School in Waukesha, reports NPR. The Cyrus-Parton duo is known for their infamous rendition of Jolene which they performed at the 61st Grammy Awards in 2019. 

According to the first-grade teacher Melissa Tempel, the first graders wanted to shed light on how beautiful and accepting the world truly is and wanted to perform a total of three songs to entail their theme: Rainbowland was followed by What a Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong and Here Comes the Sun by The Beatles. According to Tempel, her students were distraught after hearing the news because they had practiced tirelessly for this song, and it was a song they cherished.  

Superintendent James Sebert strongly objected to the song by stating school policies against controversial issues in a classroom and followed it up by saying that the song wasn't "age appropriate" nor was it of suitable maturity for the students. Initially, Rainbow Connection by the Muppets was the song meant to be performed, but due to its strong LGBTQ+ message, permission to perform it was revoked as well. He discouraged any kind of support for the community by taking down Pride and Rainbow Flags in classrooms, and it didn't stop there! Back in 2021, he slammed the school's equity and diversity program to stop any kind of propaganda for the LGBTQ community. 

Parents were enraged and equally disappointed as their first graders couldn't perform the song even though they practiced hard. Tempel also expressed immense concern for the message children are learning through this experience about LGBTQ+ support. Moreover, she explained how the controversy around the image of rainbows is unfortunately creating a rather unsafe space for members of the queer community. 

According to Billboard, Miley Cyrus' non-profit organization, Happy Hippie Foundation made a generous donation to an organization called Pride and Less Prejudice which supplies LGBTQ-inclusive books to preschool children to encourage both students and teachers to "Read Aloud and Read Proud!" This act was done in honor of the students of Heyer Elementary School, an encouragement for the students to continue to be themselves while becoming pioneers and to lead the movement toward understanding and accepting people of all orientations.

According to People, after much consideration and emails by both parents and the local group, Alliance for Education, the song Rainbow Connection was chosen. This is the most recent decision by the school, according to Becky Gilligan from the Alliance for Education.

"We'll continue to advocate for the community" she adds. Sarah Schindler, a parent whose daughter is in Tempel's class, recalls how the school's policies underwent several changes since the COVID-19 pandemic struck which resulted in issues such as controversial political topics not being discussed by students or teachers, a ban on discussion of pronouns in class, or teachers not being allowed to wear any "Rainbow-themed" outfit.