Miley Cyrus' Cultural Appropriation Reaches New Levels
I’m not a huge supporter of cancel culture. I believe that people who make minor mistakes and cultural faux pas should be afforded forgiveness and the opportunity to learn from their mistakes. I believe that dialogue is far more important than the act of canceling. This grace does not apply to people whose actions harm, terrorize, and oppress others. For example, R. Kelly for sure deserves to be canceled and tried for his crimes; Aziz Ansari on the other hand, not so much. However, I’m willing to toss my stance on cancel culture and whole hardly throw my weight behind canceling Miley Cyrus for good!
On Sunday, the Wrecking Ball singer and known cultural appropriator, was seen on Instagram with her latest romantic conquest, singer Codie Simpson, basking in her new love while seemingly shading her ex-husband Liam Hemsworth.
“There are good men out there guys,” Cyrus stated. “You don’t have to be gay, there are good people with good dick, you just gotta find them. You gotta find a dick that’s not a dick, you know what I mean?”Cyrus went on to say that she thought she had to be gay because all men are evil but finding love with Simpson changed her mind.
The prolific writer, poet, and activist Maya Angelou has taught us that when someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time. We’ve already known Cyrus to be a culture vulture by infamously twerking at the 2013 VMAs and using black backup dancers as props, wearing grills, and recruiting the hottest black producers for her 2013 album Bangerz (spelled with a Z at the end to make it extra black). She then split from her hip-hop persona in 2017 stating in a Billboard Magazine interview that the misogyny and glorification of material goods in hip-hop are what pushed her away from the culture.
Cyrus is one of those women who will order underwear, wear it around for a week, and then send it back. She conveniently appropriated black culture for the benefit of her career and put it back on the shelf after she was done with it. She’s done the same to queer culture by stating that being gay is a choice and one that she chooses because she couldn’t find a good man. This statement is dangerous and supports anti-gay sentiments and policies. It also supports a false narrative that says bi-sexual and pansexual people are just confused or just widening the dating pool. Not to mention it calls into question the intentions of people who are simply exploring or questioning their sexuality. Cyrus’ statements are especially dangerous during a time in which the rights of the LGBTQIA community are resting on shifting sands.
Cyrus announced that she identified as pansexual in 2015 and has advocated for the LGBTQIA community in the past, most noticeably by launching the Happy Hippie Foundation to support LGBTQIA youth, particularly the large number of youth who are kicked out of their homes because of their identity. On Monday she clarified her statements and doubled down on her support for the LGBTQIA community.
“I was talking shit about sucky guys, but let me be clear, YOU don’t CHOOSE your sexuality. You are born as you are. It has always been my priority to protect the LGBTQ community I am a part of.”
Although her intentions and actions may align, Cyrus’s privilege seems to win out every time and she has yet to learn the error of her ways. Her privilege allows her to drape herself in the most fashionable and palatable qualities of marginalized groups, and shirk the qualities that seem too real or inconvenient. In this way, she is not an ally or even an admirer, just a tourist or better yet, a poacher.
All of this information isn’t new accept instead of targeting just one marginalized group, Cyrus has broadened her reach. The first attempts to cancel Cyrus in 2013 proved unsuccessful but in an age where cancel culture is prominent and fans are holding their idols to a higher standard, maybe we can all agree that Cyrus is a friend to no one, not even the people she is romantically connected to.