About
Miley Cyrus is an American actress and recording artist best known for her role as the title character in the Disney Channel series Hannah Montana between 2006 and 2011.
Online History
[researching]
Death Hoax
In September 2008, members of Anonymous began to spread an internet death hoax rumor that Cyrus had been killed in a car accident. The rumor was paired with a screenshot of a fake Yahoo! News story[33] (shown below) and persisted via edits to her Wikipedia page and a front-page link on Digg.
Sex Tape Facebook Scam
As early as December 2010, Facebook scammers have conducted phishing schemes that use a fictional sex tape allegedly containing Cyrus as bait. The scam has since resurged on several occasions, most recently throughout September and October 2012.
We Can’t Stop
On June 3rd, 2013, Miley Cyrus released “We Can’t Stop”, the lead R&B single from her upcoming fourth studio album Bangerz. The music video premiered on the MileyCyrusVEVO YouTube channel on June 19th, which has accrued more than 157 million views as of August 2013. Parodies of the video began appearing on YouTube as early as July 6th, 2013.
When the song was released, many critics interpreted one of the lines in the chorus as “dancing with Molly,”[1] a reference to a slang term for the drug methylenedioxy-N-methylamphetamine (MDMA). Initially, a representative from the song’s production company Mike WiLL Made It[3] and Cyrus herself[5] insisted that the lyric was not a drug reference, however, Cyrus later confirmed that it was about drugs in July[4], stating “You can Google me and you know what I’m up to, you know what the lyric is saying.”
Controversy
Drug Use
In December 2010, TMZ[34] obtained a video of Cyrus allegedly smoking salvia from a bong on her 18th birthday. The video quickly went viral and her father criticized her actions publicly on Twitter.[35] In a February 2011 interview, Cyrus stated that she made a mistake and was upset with herself for disappointing her fans and not thinking about the people who see her as a role model.[36] In July 2013, she spoke with Style Australia about her marijuana use[37], claiming she enjoyed it more than drinking.
2013 VMA Performance
On August 5th, 2013, Cyrus performed a medley of pop songs at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards, including “We Can’t Stop,” “Blurred Lines” and “Give It 2 U” with singer Robin Thicke and rapper 2 Chainz.
Photographs and GIFs of celebrities reacting to the performance from the crowd began to spread on Twitter, Tumblr and gossip blogs[16], including a still image of Will Smith and his family[8] watching the Lady Gaga performance that was erroneously attributed as a response to Cyrus. While her performance was airing on the East Coast, there were more than 306,100 tweets per minute about the VMAs, while Cyrus was mentioned a total of 4.5 million times during the entire broadcast.[9] That night, Buzzfeed[10] compiled 15 GIFs from the performance which was viewed more than 1.8 million times in less than 24 hours. Additionally, a handful of GIFs and other pieces of fan art were featured on Tumblr’s curated LOL tag[11][12][13], gaining more than 100,000 notes each.
That night, Twitter users began criticizing the way Cyrus’ latex outfit made her behind look with the hashtag #MileyAssSmallerThan[31], creating image macros comparing it to raw chicken or the backside of King of the Hill character Hank Hill. Within 24 hours, the hashtag was used more than 166,000 times.[32] The following day, a number of news media sites and internet culture blogs wrote about the performance as well as the online reaction including the Los Angeles Times[14], the Chicago Tribune[15], Mashable[17], Uproxx[18] and Slate.[20] Additionally, The Onion[25] criticized this coverage with a satirical opinion piece explaining why traditional news sites covered the event. The Daily Dot[21] reported on the sexist backlash Cyrus was receiving from people across social networks while a reporter at Vulture[19] suggested that the performance was a “minstrel show,” exhibiting an appropriation of “ratchet” culture.[22] The racism debate was countered on The Daily Beast[23] and Mediaite[24], who both argued that Cyrus’ twerking was nothing more than a dance move.
Personal Life
Destiny Hope Cyrus was born on November 23rd, 1992 to Letitia Jean “Tish” (née Finley) and Billy Ray Cyrus[26], a country singer best known for his 1992 hit single “Achy Breaky Heart.” Her nickname “Miley” is a shortened form of “Smiley,” which her parents dubbed her as an infant for her happy disposition. After the success of Hannah Montana, Cyrus signed a four-album deal with Hollywood Records and released her debut studio album in June 2007, as part of a 2-disc album with the soundtrack to the second season of Hannah Montana. Her first single, “See You Again” (shown below), peaked at #10 on the Billboard Hot 100 and later was certified Platinum.
In 2009, she transitioned into film roles and launched a Walmart exclusive clothing line with Max Azria. In 2012, she announced her engagement[27] to actor Liam Hemsworth. Cyrus’ fourth studio album, Bangerz is expected to be released on October 4th, 2013 and she maintains active Twitter[28], Instagram[29] and Facebook[30] accounts as of August 2013.
Search Interest
External References
[1]Rap Genius – Miley Cyrus – We Can’t Stop lyrics
[2]Spin – Miley Cyrus’ Molly Song ‘We Can’t Stop’ Isn’t About Molly
[3]TMZ– Miley Cyrus Not Singing About Ecstasy … Says Producer
[4]TMZ– MILEYCYRUS:
Of Course I’m Singing About Ecstasy, You Idiots
[5]Rolling Stone – Miley Cyrus Talks Drugs and Alcohol
[6]USA Today – Miley’s VMA performance shocks celebs
[7]ABC News- Miley Cyrus’ VMA Performance Stuns Crowd
[8]Business Insider – Will Smith And His Kids Had The Greatest Reaction Ever To Miley Cyrus’ VMA Performance
[9]NBC News – Miley Cyrus twerks her way to top of Twitter at 300,000 tweets per minute
[10]Buzzfeed –
[11]Tumblr – gamebrah: you broke my achy breaky heart
[12]Tumblr – thegreencorgi: Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice! Beetlejui….
[14]Los Angeles Times – Miley Cyrus’ VMA performance: Media reacts in shock
[15]Chicago Tribune – Miley Cyrus gives racy performance at MTV’s Video Music Awards
[16]E! Online – Miley Cyrus’ VMA Performance: See Taylor Swift, Rihanna, One Direction and More Stars’ Reactions
[17]Mashable – Watch Miley Cyrus’ Childhood-Ruining VMAs Performance
[18]Uproxx – Memes: The Internet Roasts Miley Cyrus’ Vma Performance And Rightfully So
[19]Vulture – Rosen: The 2013 VMAs Were Dominated by Miley’s Minstrel Show
[20]Salon – Best reactions to Miley Cyrus’ VMA performance
[21]The Daily Dot – Is the sexist backlash to Miley Cyrus worse than her twerking?
[22]NY Mag – Ratchet: The Rap Insult That Became a Compliment
[23]The Daily Beast – Miley Cyrus’s VMA Performance Was Ridiculous, But It Wasn’t Racist
[24]Mediaite – Embarrassing: Columnist Sees ‘Racism’ in Miley Cyrus’ Twerking ‘Minstrel Act’
[25]The Onion – Let Me Explain Why Miley Cyrus’ VMA Performance Was Our Top Story This Morning
[26]Wikipedia – Billy Ray Cyrus
[27]People – Miley Cyrus, Liam Hemsworth Are Engaged
[28]Twitter – @MileyCyrus
[29]Instagram – MileyCyrus
[30]Facebook – Miley Cyrus
[31]Twitter – Tweet Results for #MileyAssSmallerThan
[32]Topsy – Tweet Statistics for #MileyAssSmallerThan
[33]HoaxSlayer – Miley Cyrus Death Hoax
[34]TMZ– Miley Cyrus Bong Video Partying with a Bong
[35]LA Times – Miley Cyrus bong-smoking video has dad Billy Ray ‘so sad’
[36]Billboard – Miley Cyrus Opens Up About Salvia Bong Hit
[37]Huffington Post – Miley Cyrus Smoking Weed Comes As A Shock To No One