Dolly Parton’s 2017 duet with Miley Cyrus “Rainbowland” is banned from first-class concerts

Dolly Parton’s duet with Miley Cyrus Rainbowland has been banned from a spring first-grade concert after administration vetoed it.

The set list for the spring concert at Heyer Elementary in Waukesha, Wisconsin included Louis Armstrong’s What a Wonderful World, Rainbow Connection by Kermit the Frog from The Muppet Movie and Dolly Parton’s duet with Miley Cyrus called Rainbowland.

The latter is a collaboration between Parton and her goddaughter Cyrus, who said she’s even considering playing Parton in a biopic of the country icon, having previously dressed up as her godmother on Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show.

Both Rainbow Connection and Rainbowland were banned after the school district deemed them too controversial. According to parent Leigh Radichel Tracy, the LA Times said it was sad that the song, which is about a “beautiful place of acceptance,” was banned.

Melissa Tempel, a first grade teacher at the school, is leading the class assigned to perform the song at the concert.

Dolly Parton’s 2017 duet Rainbowland with her goddaughter Miley Cyrus was banned after the school district thought it was too controversial, according to a parent

Melissa Tempel is a first grade teacher at Heyer Elementary in Waukesha, Wisconsin and leads the class assigned to perform the song at the spring concert

She said on Twitter: “My first years were so excited to sing Rainbowland for our spring concert but our administration has vetoed it. When will it end?’

Parents were also confused as to why the songs were banned.

Sarah Schindler, whose daughter is a first-grader in Tempel’s class, told the LA Times the school board has seen a “conservative reversal” in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, adding, “With that has come some policy changes that have sparked some controversy in our community.’

These changes include bans on teachers from wearing “any kind of political sign” or wearing rainbows, as well as discussing pronouns with their students.

Tempel added to her Twitter post, “4 years ago we had an active diversity team and had @sharroky as our district equity advisor. Now we are Florida.”

Rainbowland’s ban “was in no way surprising” to Leigh Radichel Tracy, who told the LA Times that there was an ongoing controversy in the community after the school district “came down really hard on everything LGBTQ.”

She said her 17-year-old daughter, who is in the marching band with many LGBTQ friends, was “deeply hurt” by the ban: “All Miley and Dolly are saying is that they want to live in a world that accepted without judgment and where people can be who they want to be.’

Tracy said it’s sad that the song, which is about a “beautiful place of acceptance,” was banned because it was too controversial.

Rainbowland was released as part of Miley Cyrus’ Younger Now album.

The song, a duet with Cyrus’ godmother Dolly Parton, who also appeared on her New Year’s Eve show, contains lyrics like: “Wouldn’t it be nice to live in paradise / Where we’re free to be Exactly who we are” or ‘Lesst dig us all deep inside / brush aside judgment and fear’.

After hearing the song, Schindler still couldn’t understand how the song could be considered controversial, especially since she always associated spring with rainbows.

While she admitted Cyrus had spoken out about drugs and sex in the past and her duet partner Parton was supportive of drag queens, she said these policies banning songs like Rainbowland make everyone question their choices.