Commentary: No, Miley Cyrus Shouldn't Have Apologized

I generally don't write a lot about stuff that is more on the gossip side of pop culture or things that get into the issue of authenticity and/or cultural appropriation. Partly because no one wants to hear an old white guy pontificate about the stuff. And also because in most cases, most of these stories are ones that wouldn't draw any attention in a pre-social media era. 

Typically, these stories follow a predictable arc of interest. A random person tweets or posts a video calling out some celebrity for allegedly engaging in bad behavior. Now I'm talking about situations in which someone does something that is not easily identifiable as wrong. If you're sexual harassing someone, if you use racist language, then you deserve to be whacked around a bit in public like a pinata. (And before anyone call me out, yes, there are many other examples. I just need to keep this somewhat brief). But so much of what the calling out culture gossip press is about revolves around the premise of "someone said something that offended MY sensibilities" instead of the more culturally reasonable "someone said something that most reasonable people would find offensive." 

The problem with the former premise is that it becomes increasingly difficult to not trip over someone's sensibilities. I wrote a review of a Matt Bomer performance in which I said I thought he was a great actor, but was miscast in the role. And someone sent me a long, angry rant arguing that saying he was "miscast in the role" was some sort of codespeak for "I don't think a gay man should have played this role." My response was "no, I meant what I said. I don't think he was the best for for the role. Not because he's gay. But because no actor--no matter how talented--is perfect for every role." I'm sorry if that's the way this reader took my comment. However, at the end of the day I can only be responsible for my comments and the way I meant them.

I had a bit of dejavu reading some of the pieces from the last day that chronicled an apology Miley Cyrus made about hip-hop music in a Billboard interview from May 2017. That's the first tip-off this entire outrage is a piece of crap. It's outrage over a widely-read interview from TWO YEARS AGO. 

In the interview, Cyrus explains why her new pop-tinged album had a different sound than 2013's "Bangerz," the #1 album where she worked with hip hop producer and DJ Mike Will Made It:

Did folk singer Melanie Safka [with whom Cyrus performed in 2015] ­influence you?

She did, and I grew up with her. But I also love that new Kendrick [Lamar] song [“Humble”]: “Show me somethin’ natural like ass with some stretch marks.” I love that because it’s not “Come sit on my dick, suck on my cock.” I can’t listen to that anymore. That’s what pushed me out of the hip-hop scene a little. It was too much “Lamborghini, got my Rolex, got a girl on my cock” -- I am so not that.

She references "Humble" in part because Mike Will Made It worked on it and it's her way of saying "I like the stuff he's doing, but I don't know if hip-hop in general is where my head is at right now." The comments seem pretty innocuous on the face of it. Unless, apparently, you are the YouTube personality As Told By Kenya, who posted the video "Miley Cyrus Is My Problematic Fav...Sorry," on May 31st. In the 27-minute video, she explains how she's such a fan of Miley Cyrus, but she was disappointed by the singer's comments because they were insensitive and didn't address Miley's white privilege in being able to dip in-and-out of hip-hop whenever she wanted.

And of course, that led to some snarky pieces being published on pop culture web sites speculating about the Miley Cyrus problems with not understanding her privilege. Which inevitably led to Miley Cyrus posting this apology in the comments of the video on Tuesday:

Just watched your video. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to speak up. Being silent is not like me at all. I am aware of my platform and have always used it the best way I know how and to shine a light on injustice. I want to start with saying I am sorry. I own the fact that saying ... "this pushed me out of the hip hop scene a little” was insensitive as it is a privilege to have the ability to dip in and out of “the scene”. There are decades of inequality that I am aware of, but still have alot learn about. Silence is apart of the problem and I refuse to be quiet anymore. My words became a divider in a time where togetherness and unity is crucial . I can not change what I said at that time , but I can say I am deeply sorry for the disconnect my words caused. Simply said ; i fucked up and I sincerely apologize  .  I’m committed to using my voice for healing , change , and standing  up for what’s right. Miley

If you find her "apology" to be a bit unfocused, it's because....what the hell is she supposed to say? All she can do is apologize and spout some vague well-meaning support because at the end of the day she's being accused of deciding that her current musical taste are now a bit different. Plus, it's not as if she's making some incredibly racist point by saying, "you know, the hip hop world is big with a lot of different styles and for me, I'm not really into some of the misogynist stuff that's out there." That doesn't mean she's racially insensitive. That means that as a woman, she's not into hearing about someone's dick.

This entire "controversy" is even dumber, because 90 percent of the video from As Told By Kenya centers around how much she enjoys Miley Cyrus, especially her "Bangerz" album. But she does argue that Cyrus was "racially insensitive" and the interview had "racist undertones."

"Racist undertones?" What the serious fuck?!? It's 2019 and we now have a female artist being shamed into complaining because she admitted that she's not that into songs that include lyrics about someone getting slapped by a dick. She wasn't slamming hip-hop in general or attributing anything else to the discussion. Other than saying "You know, I don't think that riding my dick stuff is for me." She obviously still enjoys parts of hip-hop, given that she has a new song out with Ghostface Killah which samples the Wu-Tang Clan song "C.R.E.A.M." 

But of course, all of this outrage is less about real concern and more about another excuse for craptastic clickbait like this piece from Jezebel, Miley Cyrus Apologizes For Controversial Comment About Hip-Hip. Have we seriously gotten to the point where a woman admitting that she's not into dick-riding songs is inherently racist insensitive?

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