Miley Cyrus Responds To Wisconsin Elementary School Banning Her “Rainbowland” With LGBTQ+ Fund Donation

Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for The Recording Academy

Miley Cyrus Responds To Wisconsin Elementary School Banning Her “Rainbowland” With LGBTQ+ Fund Donation

Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for The Recording Academy

This week in the culture war: The Waukesha School District in Waukesha, Wisconsin prohibited first-graders from singing Miley Cyrus and Dolly Parton’s 2017 collaboration “Rainbowland” on Monday, citing a rule against “controversial” issues in the classroom. Nodding to the LGBTQ+ community in its title, lyrically “Rainbowland” addresses inclusiveness in the most general terms, with lines like “Wouldn’t it be nice to live in paradise/ Where we’re free to be exactly who we are” and “Let’s all dig down deep inside/ Brush the judgment and fear aside.”

Superintendent James Sebert wrote in a statement to WPR that “the question was around whether the song was appropriate for the age and maturity level of the first-grade students.” The same report cited backlash from several parents and teachers, including first-grade teacher Melissa Tempel, who said, “If my opinion is not the same as yours, or my value system is not the same as yours, how do I know what you will think is controversial?”

In response to the ban, Cyrus’ Happy Hippie Foundation announced a financial donation to Pride And Less Prejudice, an organization that “provides free LGBTQ age-appropriate books to classrooms from preschool to third grade.” The foundation tweeted this statement:

When our founder @mileycyrus and her fairy godmother @dollyparton wrote these words together, they meant it.

To the inspiring first grade students at Heyer Elementary, keep being YOU. We believe in our Happy Hippie heart that you’ll be the ones to brush the judgment and fear aside and make all of us more understanding and accepting 🌈

In honor & celebration of your BRIGHT future Happy Hippie is making a donation to
@lessprejudice to help make classrooms more inclusive! 💛💛💛

https://twitter.com/happyhippiefdn/status/1641194399022608384

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