Ever since Miley Cyrus performed at the 2013 MTV VMAs there's been outrage on so many levels.
I saw Miley's performance that night and I was clutching my pearls while I looked on in horror...until, I remembered she is 20 years old and not 13 year old Hannah Montana. I watched her performance again on Youtube the following day, keeping in mind that she's 20 years old and I honestly didn't see anything wrong with it. I think people are overreacting with this Mileygate situation.
She's an adult and she can do whatever she chooses to do. If that means take off her clothes and "try to twerk" then so be it. At the end of it all Miley will be laughing her way to the bank while the rest of us are stuck behind our computers grumbling about how Miley Cyrus is a disgrace to the community.
I've been reading blog posts and watching the news and I can't seem to understand why people are having so much problems with it. This is the VMAs not the Academy Awards, they are known for having outrageous performances... remember when Britney, Madonna and Christina kissed? That stirred up controversy from parents worldwide as well.
How about when Britney stripped down to a nude sparkly outfit at the 2000 VMAs? That sparked controversy too. The recurring complaint is always how outrageous the performance is, the fact that young children are watching the award show,it was lewd and shameful...yadda, yadda, yadda.
There were blogs that said her performance was degrading to black women pointing out the part where she slapped one of the female backup dancers behind. My thoughts is that Miley couldn't have contributed to the existing rhetoric if there were no women willing to participate. If the dancers felt like it would be degrading they could've turned down the offer to perform with her.
The main problem I'm having with that argument is the same people who are saying she's degrading women are also calling Miley a whore. The last time I checked calling a woman a whore was degrading. If we're pointing fingers why not condemn Robin Thicke for his role in the performance too? His wife Paula Patton said there were lots of rehearsals so she knew what was going to happen, which means that Robin knew how risque is was going to be. Does he get a pass because he's a man? You can't claim you're defending women rights when you're blatantly disrespecting a woman's personal choice to express herself. Not everybody is going to like or understand Miley's new persona but get this...it doesn't matter, she's doing what she wants to do and she's old enough to do it. However nothing surprised me more than when I read an article that said Miley's performance was racist. Many people feel like Miley is appropriating black culture without permission and it's racist because in order for mainstream media to accept twerking or anything else in black culture...music, fashion, art, etc. it needs to be painted blonde. I've a heard a lot of things before but I really wasn't expecting this. I don't see what part of the performance was racist. Miley has been soaking up "black culture" for a while now and I don't think because she brought black female dancers on stage and slapped their butt she should be labeled as racist. Is it wrong to think that Miley probably really likes the culture and there's no ulterior motive?
Black people need to stop pulling the race card for every little thing. Quit making everything a race issue and attack the real issue which is ALL women of ALL colors being over sexualized in the media. Don't make it a white or black thing because it's not. This is about music, and music is supposed to bring us together, not pull us apart. It shouldn't matter if the person twerking is white or the man singing country music is black. When we label every little thing as racist it makes it harder for white people to take us seriously when a real racial issue comes up.
Miley's performance was lewd...yes, over sexualized...yes, unnecessary...yes, but racist?...no
