Miley Cyrus called out by her little person backup dancer: I never felt more ‘degraded’

Miley Cyrus

We were going to cover this story on Friday, but I wanted this letter (which was not written by any of the women in these photos) to stand on its own. By now we all know that Miley features little people as backup dancers for her “musical” performances as part of her new image. She did so at the iHeartRadio festival, last week on the Today show, and even more memorably at the VMAs. Miley has them twerk while dressed up as mushrooms, teddy bears, and fairies.

The following letter was drafted by a woman who performed onstage with Miley at the VMAs. She’s an actress and back-up dancer who just happens to be a little person. She’s also positively gorgeous and scores gigs on a regular basis. After the VMAs, she decided not to go on tour with Miley. She calls what happens at the VMAs “degrading” and thinks Miley only uses little people as dancers because it’s “weird” or “freaky.” This poor girl was never more humiliated in all her lfie than when she worked with Miley. Check out her letter:

Miley Cyrus

Buckle in.

I recently have come under a lot of heat for a comment I made on a friend’s Facebook status about Miley Cyrus’ SNL appearance. Essentially, my LP friend said that little people actors should take note of how our other little person friend played his guitar for her performance, rather than dance behind her in say…a plant or food costume. A lot of the LP community commented on the status and a debate began on LP performers and the types of “gigs” we are hired to perform for. Long story short (pun absolutely intended), I decided to comment with the following:

So I apologize in advance if this stirs the pot more but I was reading the comments and really wanted to weigh in. [Person who originally posted], you basically said everything I’ve been wanting to say for a long time but have been too chicken sh-t to say because I didn’t want to offend anyone.
Most of the time, getting a job purely because you’re a little person (in my opinion) is not a good thing. It is further fulfilling society’s idea that we are something to laugh at; that our value is simply to shock. We can all agree that right now all Miley Cyrus wants to do is make society’s jaw drop. So what’s more “weird” or “freaky” than having little people parading around in your show?
As someone who is trying to make it as a serious actress in this industry, not just trying to “be famous” or make money, there is nothing more frustrating than this stigma. The longer little people agree to be used as shock value, the longer it is going to take for us to be taken seriously.

I was a bear in Miley Cyrus’ VMA performance and it was my first time doing anything like that…anything where I was being used because of my height, not because of my talent. And I will be the first one to tell you that standing on that stage, in that costume was one of the most degrading things I felt like I could ever do. I realize not everyone shares my opinion and I might just be young and naive, but I feel like the acceptance of this kind of treatment has got to stop.

I have been attempting to be a professional actress for the past 3 years and my mom will probably tell you I have been attempting to be a professional actress my entire life. I cannot remember a time in my life when I did not want to be on a stage or in front of a camera. I have been performing in plays and musicals since I could speak. I attended a small Liberal Arts school in Michigan where I earned a degree in Theatre. I was in plays and musicals while in school and I earned none of my roles by simply being small and not one show I was in even made mention of it. I have lived in Los Angeles for almost two years and let me be one of the millions to tell you…it is not easy. Not only am I attempting to break into an impossible industry, but I am trying to do it with what some may consider a huge disadvantage. For decades, little people have not been taken seriously and we still continue to not be. As an actress, I am presented with maybe 2% of the “real” auditions that my average height actress friends are presented with.

However, I have been presented with many other opportunities. I was in Miley Cyrus’ 2013 VMA performance as one of the background bears. I had never done anything in a costume with a mask like that before. I mean, I dressed up as a Pink Power Ranger when I was in Kindergarten and I had a mask on but, I digress… I had never been in a performance where I was purely meant to be gawked or laughed at. I will never forget that performance because it is what forced me to draw my personal line in the sand. After our first dress rehearsal in the costumes with the crew, publicists, performers etc watching us, I walked out of the Barclay Center shaking and crying. Thankfully, my best friends, Kelly and Kerri, happened to be NYC to visit me. They were waiting for me and I walked up to them and broke down. I love being the center of attention, but that was something different. I was being stared and laughed at for all of the wrong reasons. I was being looked at as a prop…as something less than human.

Now, I have never been terribly bullied for being little person. I was extremely fortunate to grow up with a wonderful family and amazing friends. I view these people as a my personal shield. If anyone ever laughed at me on the playground as a child, I wasn’t even given a chance to defend myself because my friends or my cousin, Britt, would step forward and serve these people back some playground realness (mostly they would call them stupid or tell them to shut up…realness). In college, an online message board was started about me. People anonymously wrote in and said I looked “bug-eyed” and that I “creeped” them out and that they “felt sorry for my family that I even existed and I should just go die.” It wasn’t great. I felt the lowest I thought I could feel, but the minute I set foot outside my dorm room, I had sorority sisters, friends, and professors expressing their disgust at the board and it was eventually taken down. More recently, I was at a bar with my friends, Chris, Mark and James, and a man made some comment about my height and went to touch my hair. Before I even knew what was happening or what was said, the boys had stepped between the man and I, and had physically shielded him from even coming near me. My friends are amazing and I bring these examples up to show that, I have been fortunate to know that for every asshole out there calling me a “bug-eyed midget” I have a lot of other people who love me and treat me with respect.

So, while all of those other situations weren’t fun, they never made me feel less than human. When I did the VMAs, I did feel like that. For the first time I felt truly ashamed of being a little person. We were being used simply because we were little. It felt like society still saw us as a joke, despite the fact there is literally nothing different about me other than the fact I am small. You would never make someone with Down Syndrome to come to your party as an “angry r—-d.” (I have been asked to go to a party as an “angry elf”). So when they asked me to audition for Miley’s tour, I was incredibly hesitant. The money was great and I would have gotten a free trip to Las Vegas. My computer had recently broken and my car needed (and still needs) multiple repairs. I could have fixed a lot of that with the Miley money. So, I sent in my audition tape. I found out I was chosen and was going to have to begin rehearsals the next day. In this whole process, I was never quite told what I would be dancing to or as with Miley. I began to get a horrible gut feeling. All of the VMA feelings came rushing back. I called my mom, Kelly, and Kerri and we all debated for hours about the situation. Eventually they did that annoying thing everyone does where they said “Ultimately, it is your decision.” I wondered if I could do it again…if it my computer and car were worth it. If it was worth that one day, when my future (possibly little person) child YouTubed Miley Cyrus and found me dancing onstage in a costume like that and said something like “But Mom, you don’t let me do things like that” and I had to explain that Momma did it to pay the bills. I wondered if it was worth feeling less than human again.

And frankly, it wasn’t.

I also had a job and dog here in LA that I didn’t want to leave. Too many negative thoughts and considerations went into it. I decided not to join in on the Miley party.

[From A Bunch Of Dumb Show

You know what? This woman is absolutely correct. Miley is obsessed with sexualizing childhood, and she even calls herself “a creepy sexy baby.” I think she uses little people as backup dancers not only because it’s “freaky” to her; but also because their short stature evokes (for lack of a better) sentimentality for childhood. I’m so glad this woman stood up for herself.

What’s scary is that Miley probably feels like she’s doing little people a favor by hiring them — even though she’s asking them to degrade themselves for money. This is similar to Miley’s statement about her black backup dancers: “They’re just excited to not be dancing at the club.” She is so clueless.

Miley Cyrus

Miley Cyrus

Miley Cyrus

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet & WENN

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

174 Responses to “Miley Cyrus called out by her little person backup dancer: I never felt more ‘degraded’”

Comments are Closed

We close comments on older posts to fight comment spam.

  1. tifzlan says:

    As i said in Friday’s post, Miley is obsessed with “adult babies”. These are her words to Ellen, not mine. And i completely agree with the letter that this dancer wrote. I’m not going to blame her or any other little dancer for working with Miley because they might not have the same opportunities to perform and dance as average-height people do. Sometimes, you gotta do what you gotta do. But i’m glad that she is calling Miley out on her BS.

    • EmmaV1 says:

      She doesn’t deserve to call Miley out on her BS. There were rehearsals and she saw the audition calls and knew what it was going to be. Also, nobody would know who she was/she was in the dance if she didn’t put her face out there for everyone to see. I’m not arguing whether the dance was degrading or not, but if you took the pay check, shut up and don’t expect sympathy. And don’t give me crap like “But she needs to make a living”. If that’s the case, go work at McDonald’s, do something else. You cannot sell your dignity for money and then whine about how you lost your dignity.

      Also I’m disappointed by the comments on this website regarding Miley especially. Usually this website has such intelligent conversations/opinions about not just celebrities but life in general, but people let their hatred of Miley color everything. Good god. Surprisingly the awful DailyMail commenters about Miley (not just this topic, but on everything) are far more fair and balanced than this website, which is saying something.

      • mandy says:

        Obviously she did not expect the effect the live show would have on her. The audience makes a huge difference. If you can’t feel sympathy for this woman… Try again.

      • polkasox says:

        She’s not allowed to regret something that she did? Maybe she didn’t realize exactly how bad it would make her feel. & just because “no one saw her face” doesn’t mean she can’t be embarrassed about it afterwards. Sometimes it’s not until you’re in a situation that you fully realize how you feel about it.

      • Stoner says:

        Oh give me a break – this girl is as big of an attention whore as Miley, pardon the pun.

      • Kcaia says:

        I do think it’s offensive that Miley uses little people as a gimmick for her performances, but I place less of the blame on Miley then on the ones behind the.scenes that allow it, because they know that if there’s any heat, it will be on Miley. I also place the blame on the people at home who could never see a little person as any other human being. Miley is 20 years old, she wants to shock people but she doesn’t have enough life experience as the others do to see the difference between shocking and offending, and the impact her decisions have on the world at large. But the 40+ year olds that sign off on these performances and profit the most know exactly what they’re doing, and if anybody wants there to be a change, theyre the ones that firstly the problem should be addressed with, unless there’s a problem with how we, each and every one of us, view little people ourselves, then that should be first. I do hope Miley learns something from this though, because she has the opportunity to have a positive or negative impact on this world, like we all do, but on a much larger scale then the average person could.

      • pam246 says:

        I have to agree that I don’t feel much sympathy for this woman. There were rehearsals so it’s not like she didn’t know what she was getting herself into. Not to mention all of the press Miley was getting before the VMA performance. This wasn’t the first time little people were used in her performances. Maybe VMA’s got trashier than it was in rehearsal but Miley’s performance shouldn’t have been shocking to her.

      • Ennie says:

        She kind of knew what was going on,a s she said she left the rehearsal and cried. Thing is, she had already signed for it. When she was offered the tour, she considered it, as she was tempted for the money, but decided it was not worthy as she knew what it would make her feel, as if ahe sold out.
        Kind of reminded me of the move the Devil Wears Prada.
        As for her picture, I can see that she is fairly young, not much older than Miley. If Miley gets a pass because she is young (and she is not regretting any stupidity she is doing now), this young woman should get one too.

      • Denise says:

        I hardly think you can judge a person when you haven’t a clue what it’s like to be her. Especially so harshly. You criticize the commenters here for not being ‘fair and balanced’ (as the DM commenters!) but you have not a shred of compassion for a person who struggles daily to be taken seriously as a human being.

      • K-MAC says:

        I completely agree. I have no sympathy for this woman. We can regret what we have done but she had ample chances to bow out and she did not. She had work and so many people today don’t. She is just as much of an attention seeker and ungrateful. I am not interested in anymore letters from anyone screaming “I felt degraded.” Do your research, don’t get involved, you have choices….make one and don’t bitch about it afterwards.

      • IamAcylon says:

        + 1000.5

      • malina says:

        Indeed, it is saying something that authors of usually intelligent conversations/opinions begin to hate Miley because of her words and antics. It is certainly saying something…

      • Hakura says:

        @EmmaV1 – So basically, giving honest negative opinions, (&/or agreeing w/someone else’s) during acurate discussions based on public knowledge…Now qualifies us as unintelligent haters?

        The reason thy CB readers have more negative opinions of Miley, is bc we’ve been kept informed of all her recent bullshit. Especially where dissing *mental ilness*, is concerned. Those of us here who watched it play out have NO respect left for her.

      • Hakura says:

        @EmmaV1 – So basically, giving honest negative opinions, (&/or agreeing w/someone else’s) during acurate discussions based on public knowledge…Now qualifies us as unintelligent haters?

        The reason the CB readers have more negative opinions of Miley, is bc we’ve been kept informed of all her recent bullshit. Especially where dissing *mental ilness*, is concerned. Those of us here who watched it play out have NO respect left for her. Hate her? No. But she can kiss my (& everyone else here’s) glorious ass…. When she manages to dislodge her head from her own (lack-thereof), that is.

      • Hakura says:

        Jeez triple posted me again! Left my original comment, then my edited one I added onto. The second one was my edited whole statement. Sorry guys!

    • RocketMerry says:

      Miley is gross. She is quickly gathering a reputation for being a disgusting human being with this kind of behaviour.
      She clearly discriminates on height and race, and she promotes very, very wrong and disgusting attitudes towards sexuality and childhood.
      This really goes beyond “shock value”; this should make her a social outcast. This should make her career disintegrate, not bloom!

      • Kcaia says:

        This is how I think of that, yes, Miley may be doing some things wrong, but really who are we to say, not in a God sense, but in a fate sense, who are we to say what she needs to learn and experience in her life? It affects others, yes. But this is not a perfect world, and so for the greater good issues like this still need to be looked at and addressed, because it’s not just Miley, and most likely, Miley has the.most innocent intentions of all involved. If we did live in a perfect world, I’d suspect that when there was a person like Miley, we would know the things she does wrong, but we would also see the beauty in her life, and the beauty in the possibilities and capabilities of good in each person. We wouldn’t judge, hate or spite each other for any reason, especially when we can never tell what the future holds for each other individually or as a whole.

      • Liv says:

        I really start to hate her. It’s 2013 and she’s making fun of little people, people with mental illness and the worst, she sexualizes children when she behaves like a bratty child who rides a wrecking ball and makes disgusting photos with Richardson.

        I want to vomit in her face.

      • Kcaia says:

        The biggest part of acceptance is not to hate each other because of our differences, whether they’re physical, societal, spiritual, or emotional. In 2013, what is so hard to understand about that? Anything else, is simply hypocrisy, imo. Especially hating a young woman for the mistakes she makes in her life.

      • Liv says:

        Crap.

        You basically say I shouldn’t hate on her while she is making fun of others because I have to accept differences? Makes no sense at all.

        And what do you mean she makes mistakes in her life? Go ask her, I’m pretty sure she’s convinced she’s absolutely right.

      • Jennifer12 says:

        Miley isn’t making mistakes. She is deliberately using people of color or little people as props and saying they’re lucky to be with her because otherwise they’d be in clubs or something. Because they don’t have educations or anything, and can’t make money except with Miley. Way to put down entire races of people Oh, and today: “I don’t need to listen to old Jewish men.” Does this fool have any idea how she sounds??

      • RocketMerry says:

        Kcaia
        Sorry, but absolute relativism died a few years ago. Check your thinking, you’ll see it needs some serious re-tuning.

        Some things are just plain wrong. If someone makes racist remarks, behaves in ways that demean others and promotes sexualization of children, that is wrong. It is even worse if the messages are geared towards young people who can confuse them with “coolness” and adopt wrong and dangerous attitudes themselves.

        This is not to say Miley is the only one being wrong. She isn’t. Nobody in this planet is perfect. But she, right now, is being horribly wrong, refusing to acknowledge it and harming others. She gets no excuses, no passes, no “she’s just being Miley!”, no “it’s the people behind her”, no “her parents are splitting, she’s acting out”, no “she had horrible experiences in the past and is trying to deal”. You watch, after this backlash she’ll tell us some seriously sad story about her past to try and explain all of this.

        No. She can choose, this is what she chooses. She wants fame so much that she is willing to hurt others. She is disgusting. Period.

      • steph says:

        Exactly, Jen. I can’t believe people can defend this. She uses them as wacky props, both little people and black women. Why aren’t more people disgusted?

    • lala123 says:

      For people who blame the little person: she made her choice BUT GUESS WHAT? There’s a big difference between opportunity and choice. If she had more opportunities as a little person in hollywood, she would have been less likely to have chosen this assinine one. Notice I said less likely because I won’t make absolute judgements like you people. Obviously, some of you have never been in a desperate situation or lived under desperate circumstances. There are MILLIONS of people everyday who “sell out” to feed and clothe themselves or their families. And it’s a law of nature that YOU YOURSELF are one of those people. So let her say what she needs to and you shut up. And to the fools who think you can work at McDonald’s to support yourself are too stupid for me address in these comments.

  2. Kiddo says:

    I read this yesterday, and while I sympathize, and think it was fabulously strong to take a stand by quitting after the VMAs, why didn’t she object and quit before the VMAs when she realized how humiliating the gig was during rehearsals? I don’t mean to chastise her. I just really don’t understand.

    • GiGi says:

      As an actor, especially just starting out, you just do not quit a gig. It’s a BFD in the industry and even an actor who walks out one time can fear the wrath of their agents and casting directors. I’d say she probably felt caught in a big mess.

      The industry is paved with slippery slopes and most in it have compromised their morals in hopes of gaining a toe hold at one time or another. I don’t blame her for going through with the original gig, and give her a big boost for speaking out.

      • Kiddo says:

        Sure, but she quit the tour, so she did quit after being hired. I , too, give her props for speaking out, but she knew what this was going to be. She could have quit before and then spoken out after the mess of VMAs. I mean if we are going to criticize Miley for accepting lower standards of conduct for attention, should we ignore everyone else? That’s my point. I understand that Miley has more power and was already known at the time. But, in essence, they both had the same motivations in terms of exposure.

      • GiGi says:

        I read it as she declined the offer they made after she sent her audition tape – which is very different than backing out of an accepted job.

        I do agree that she probably had some inkling about what the VMAs were going to be, since it’s rare to see a Little Person on stage with a musician and NOT have it be demeaning. But maybe she didn’t know how it would make her feel… idk – I’m giving her the benefit of the doubt. Obviously she’s going to gain exposure from this, but it still takes quite a lot to speak out against someone of Miley’s standing.

      • Boxy Lady says:

        @Kiddo She did not quit the tour. She was asked to audition for the tour but she decided not to. She went through with the VMAs gig because she had already been hired and she’s a professional.

      • Kiddo says:

        @Boxy Lady, Okay, it makes more sense. Still, the cynic in me thinks that if this debacle had been well received as a smashing bit of art, she may have gone further. But I don’t know that. It always seems questionable when someone contributes and then protests after the fact. Taking a real stand concurrently carries so much more risk, but it also carries so much more weight.

      • littlemissnaughty says:

        @ Kiddo: It always seems questionable when it takes people a few moments to realize what they’ve gotten themselves into? That happens all the time and it’s human. We all eat sh*t at work and sometimes suck it up only to realize afterwards that we should have said something or done/not done something. It’s perfectly normal. And this woman is not blaming anyone else for taking the job, she’s only saying “I did it, I regret it and here’s why.”

        It’s a bit like every discussion that ensues after a Terry Richardson post. “She wants to be in this business, she participated, and now she’s whining. Just get a job at a gas station then.” It’s blaming the people with the least options in the respective industry and it’s not fair.

      • Kiddo says:

        @littlemissnaughty, I think that is a false equivalence to a Richardson victim. What would be a fair comparison is if someone was degraded and humiliated by Richardson and then goes back for more of exactly the same, after practicing the acts, this, after already having been shaken to the core and left crying and shamed the first time.

        I understand how someone can recognize a mistake upon reflection. I was simply applying the same standard of critique that we all might afford Miley, for example. It’s good that this woman took the time to examine her own contribution to the cluster-F performance, I said as much in my first or second post.

      • littlemissnaughty says:

        @ Kiddo: She didn’t go back for more. She took one job and regretted it. If you mean the rehearsal then I think that’s just not fair. She took the job and finished it, despite feeling like crap halfway through but the fact that she didn’t quit in the middle of it doesn’t mean she went back for more. That’s like saying every Uncle Terry victim should have left the second he asked something disgusting of her. Most of the time in these situations you’re blindsided and don’t immediately quit. It’s what makes it so bad. And if you mean that she had a day between the rehearsal and the show and she should’ve quit in between the two … well, that wouldn’t go over well. Like she explained, opportunities don’t present themselves every day and having the “unprofessional” tag follow you would be another disadvantage. However unfair it might be.

        As for comparing her part in this to what Miley’s doing, I don’t know where to start. Miley is putting her bs out there time and time again. She gives interviews telling us exactly why any criticism of her is unfounded and sexist and whatnot. Fine. But to compare her antics to what this woman “contributed” to the VMA perfomance? Very different levels. Especially considering she recognized her own part in it, as small as it was. Miley is floating on Mount Self-Obsessed.

      • Kiddo says:

        littlemissnaughty

        Yes, the rehearsal. If you feel sickened by something you are required to do as part of a job, and you have even a day to reflect on it, then you need to assess what is most important to you. What do you value, the integrity of your personal ethics or making a foothold (having an opportunity) in a career? She chose the latter and regretted it. I bet 99% of Uncle Terry’s victims wouldn’t have returned if they had a preview of what sickening thing was to come. At any rate, this is a cautionary tale for those who contribute to any negative stereotypes by allowing themselves to be used. Maybe the same can be said for Miley. At least this woman has some personal self-awareness.

        No one can speak to what Miley may later regret. She is surrounded by sycophants telling her everything is great. Maybe her bargain for selling her soul or integrity simply paid off better. That, I can’t speak to.

      • Emma - the JP Lover says:

        @Kiddo, who wrote: “No one can speak to what Miley may later regret. She is surrounded by sycophants telling her everything is great. Maybe her bargain for selling her soul or integrity simply paid off better. That, I can’t speak to.”

        It sounds like you want us to give Miley a pass on her current behavior, because you don’t feel she’s the one calling the shots in her professional life.

        Miley has recently made it clear that ‘she’ is in control of her life, professional and otherwise. She also doesn’t believe what she is doing exhibits ‘questionable’ behavior. She thinks we just aren’t ‘hip’ enough if we don’t get her explicitly sexual performances. She’s also doing it for attention, and it’s worked.

        I’m trying to figure out exactly why you’re throwing shade at the young woman who wrote the letter above. You suggest she ought to have walked out of rehearsal and gained a black mark as a quitter, assuring that she wouldn’t get any other jobs. She chose to honor her contract and perform at the VMA’s. Perhaps you’re just too young to understand that kind of work ethic.

        She ‘did’ turn down the bigger Miley job, and she’ll probably be eating Ramen noodles because of it.

      • Kiddo says:

        My last post, and I’m done:
        FYI, at 19, I turned down a very lucrative and fast track opportunity which went against my ethics. Your condescension about my age, or what you think it is, or how irresponsible you think I am based on your own bias notwithstanding, I took on other work. I don’t have regrets about it.

      • littlemissnaughty says:

        @ Kiddo: You cannot possibly speak to what 99% of models would’ve done in that situation. His reputation for being a disgusting human being precedes him and he still works with very young girls. Presumably they all “know” what might come. So it’s their fault if they still go? I think not.

        This young woman took a job and finished it despite feeling bad. She declined the second, much bigger job. That’s ALL you can ask for when you talk about dignity or integrity. If you think you would’ve had the strenth or awareness to make a different decision, that’s great for you. I do wonder if you have ever been in a similar situation though because I know many women and girls as well as guys who have – myself included – and it takes a lot to always and immediately stand up for yourself. At 24 I was not that strong and took a lot of crap that I laughed off when I should’ve put a stop to it. So good for you for thinking you’d make better choices but for most people it takes some time. And we all deserve that time without being judged. She needed a day. I needed years. What about you?

    • Andrew says:

      But the big thing is that she regrets it. She’s not saying that she was expecting it to be a nice tribute to LP or anything. She does say that she regrets it. Sometimes pressure, money, success, contracts, etc. can get in the way of thoughts.

    • Kiddo says:

      Emma – the JP Lover

      You really haven’t read anything I’ve written, or you haven’t read all of it. There is so much in your comment that mis-characterized what I said, that I would need to actually write every single post over again, which I’m not doing.

      • Sloane Wyat tt says:

        Liv – “You basically say I shouldn’t hate on her while she is making fun of others because I have to accept differences? Makes no sense at all.” ITA, Liv.

        kiddo – “But, in essence, they both had the same motivations in terms of exposure.” Ah, but they do not have the same motivations; the little person is trying to bust into show business and desperately trying to make ends meet, whereas, Miley Cyrus was a millionaire child star who is doing anything to extend her fifteen minutes of fame.

        As always, I appreciate your views and the thoughtful way you express yourself. Um, even though I’M firmly on Jane Hollis’ side, from some of these protective commenters it almost seems that shading a little person is somehow not allowed. As long as no one is hurtful, you, me, and Dupree have the right to express our opinions, (regardless of being positive or negative), of anyone. Last time I checked, this site is where we shade everyone!

        Emma – the JP Lover – “Perhaps you’re just too young to understand that kind of work ethic.” I beg your pardon, but condescension doesn’t become you. If you’ve followed kiddo’s running commentary on Miley, you’d likely recognize kiddo simply has nuanced opinions. Few things in life, or people for that matter, fall squarely into a category of either a black or white.

      • Sloane Wyat tt says:

        Edit: *Hollis Jane*

      • Kiddo says:

        Blah, I’m responding again!

        First, I wasn’t exactly casting shade. I was trying to objectively analyze the woman’s actions and potential motives. I think that there are degrees of the same motivations going on. Miley willing to porn herself to reach a higher level of exposure and the Little person trying to break in, playing a freak doll to get exposure, do have parallels. At what price and at what gross return (pun intended) may be world’s apart, but they are cast of the same stone. From what I read, The LP bought a car and a computer. Yes, those things are necessities, (a car in some locations), but I don’t know if she already had them or if she was upgrading. Regardless, that was not what I was examining.

        I have said time and again that Miley is running the ship, but she also has no one telling her that what she is doing might be questionable (at least from people close to her). They are telling her, Go girl. It’s not so different from what the circle of support told the LP, “In the end, it’s up to you”. I don’t think that there is anything wrong with accentuating the fact that this woman performed by her own choice, knowing it was disgraceful to her subculture (or she says so) and she even took responsibility for that. So for whatever her reasons, desperation or desire, she contributed to the shit show. The fact that she realized it wasn’t worth it later demonstrates that she sees a larger reaching impact than simply what happened to her. I said she was self-aware and I was sympathetic. I was beseeching people to look at the larger picture when making choices. And I do believe that she should have left after being traumatized by the rehearsals. I’m not sure what really hammered it home for her; a backlash from her LP peers, the general public, reviews, or her own personal evaluation. I can’t be in her head any more than Miley’s and neither can anyone else, but we all speculate to a degree. Just because Miley has done some things that are distasteful doesn’t make her the devil, and just because this woman worked for her and regretted it, that doesn’t make a saint. There aren’t white hats and black hats, absolute villains and victims in this scenario. There was choice…all around. It’s good that she is trying to rectify an error. Or maybe she is capitalizing on it, who the hell knows? I don’t.

      • Sloane Wyat tt says:

        Lol! Reeled you in. 🙂

        “Miley willing to porn herself to reach a higher level of exposure and the Little person trying to break in, playing a freak doll to get exposure, do have parallels.” – Kiddo

        Thanks for another good post. Now, I can see what you mean with some parallels between Miley and Hollis. And yes, who really knows what evil lurks in the hearts of (wo)men?

      • MavenTheFirst says:

        The argiment for relativism breaks down when one compares the power differential, and the effects. Miley has nothing to lose but her ego.

        And not all choices can be compared by the fact that they are choices per se. To tout choice per se while not factoring in such things as power, vulnerability and loss is to objectify and dehumanise people. Hollis felt ultimately degraded but her choice was not the cause. MC, on the other hand, feels ’empowered’ by her wanton ‘choices’.

      • Kiddo says:

        @MavenTheFirst
        This REALLY will be the last post on this thread:

        “I understand that Miley has more power and was already known at the time.” (my second post)

        “No one can speak to what Miley may later regret. She is surrounded by sycophants telling her everything is great. Maybe her bargain for selling her soul or integrity simply paid off better. ” (my 5th post) About comparative gain.

        As to loss, the LP declined further involvement subsequent to the VMAs, so financial loss was contemplated and deemed less consequential than going on with the show. As to quitting concurrently, following rehearsals, maybe she could have been sued for breaking a contract, but she would have gotten a hell of a lot of press and support from the public for holding strong to principle, as evidenced here. And no one can predict what benefits, if any, are directly tied to honoring the contract, other than that she now has a first person account of the experience.

        Hollis may have been empowered by her choice NOT to participate. Miley is conflating financial gain and fame with empowerment, and those are the only qualifications that she appears to take into account, like a lot of the culture these days. Money and fame are a religion and it matters little how you arrive at the wealth Nirvana. Bad behavior is richly rewarded.

        I looked at both people as humans, imperfect multi-dimensional humans, and not objects. Objects can not weigh risk and reward, self-respect and dignity. Clearly Hollis is more highly evolved in the last aspect. Miley is oblivious to intangibles, it would seem.

  3. Jane says:

    I am sure she is going to love this controversy because she has such a narcissistic personality disorder that any attention coming her way will just feed that over-active ego of hers. Mark my words: she will say and do more outrageous things to garner as much attention as possible. She wont care who she insults or stomps on. She just made a comment about Jewish people that was featured on DM. Miley will continue to get worse and worse. No doubt about it.

    • jilly says:

      This!! Miley is intentionally and consciously manipulative. She is having the exact effect that she desired. And the more we comment on her — even negatively — the more she will keep upping the ante. What hurts these kinds of attention seekers is to not notice. Don’t comment, don’t react, don’t notice anything that they do. At first she will go over the top trying to get our attention and then she will slink away. And I will do my part by making this the last comment I ever make on Miley Cyrus. Period.

    • Sloane Wyat tt says:

      Jane, I have marked your words, and they are duly noted! She WILL get worse and worse.

      I think I need to quit feeding Miley the Troll Doll’s (http://img.geocaching.com/track/large/5a5f0388-38c8-439e-b492-dd19d5bd7f1d.jpg) pathological need for attention.

    • lisa says:

      thank you for bringing up that anti semitic comment, i think it deserves more attention

      • Sloane Wyat tt says:

        Yep, my Mr. Obvious prediction is that it will be tomorrow’s Miley post.

        It’s obvious to all that Miley is doing a calculatedly incremental PR roll out that’s more akin to Chinese Water Torture. Her offensive utterances and vulgar antics are slowly drip, drip, dripping into our collective consciousnesses, ultimately driving us to extreme repugnance, if not to fingernails across the blackboard insanity.

        Or maybe her schtick will suddenly becomes as imperceptible as all the other background noise we tune out everyday. *fingers crossed*

  4. mata says:

    I don’t blame the little person for taking the job, but I feel like she’s doing this now to get her own name out there. If she hadn’t done this interview, no one would even know that there were little people in the bear costumes, much less who any of them were. Her face/body never showed at all.

    Now if the little people who appeared in the pics above wanted to complain, I’d totally give them a shoulder to cry on.

    • Becky says:

      ” If she hadn’t done this interview, no one would even know that there were little people in the bear costumes, much less who any of them were. Her face/body never showed at all.”

      That’s the whole point, though. The main issue that’s been raised so far is Miley’s treatment of African-American culture. Hardly ANYBODY was discussing her treatment of her backup dancers beyond race, because as you pointed out, many of them were in costume. This woman is bringing up an issue that’s been largely overlooked so far, and now we’re having a conversation about it. I’d say her letter was fairly successful.

      • mata says:

        In general, I agree with you. When I saw the freakshow Miley created with the little people in various costumes, I cringed. I would expect an interview like this to come from one of them.

        I guess my issue with this particular woman is that she wasn’t being made a spectacle of as a little person. She and anyone else in the bear costumes at the VMAs were just background. Their size, color, etc… didn’t matter. Back in the day, I got money for being in costumes like that (just one of many jobs best forgotten). My friends laughed at me, but the fact that I was unrecognizable protected me from any humiliation. I just feel like this woman is using the platform to get her own 15 minutes.

    • Lou says:

      What interview? She just blogged about it on her blog that barely anyone read at first. There was no interview.

  5. janie says:

    Wow… I have to agree. I never thought too much about it. I’m sure life isn’t easy at that size and she probably thought the exposure would bring work her way.

  6. Evelyn says:

    That poor woman, no one deserves to be made a spectacle of. If Miley wants people to gawk in disgust she could just perform alone and “dance” or “sing”

    • EmmaV1 says:

      And if that “poor woman” didn’t want to be made a spectacle of, she shouldn’t have accepted Miley’s money to dance. It’s not like Miley told her she’d be dancing like a ballerina, fully clothed, and then the day of told her “you need to dance in this sexual way”

      • emmie_a says:

        So you have never done something that you thought would turn out one way but turned out a totally different way and you were left embarrassed or disheartened by the results?? We don’t know what went on in rehearsals — maybe there was a totally different vibe. Maybe she went into it thinking it was a fun concept but after she performed she saw it for what it was.

      • Evelyn says:

        She did her job like a professional, and refused the offer to go on tour. I’m sure the tour paid more than mcdonalds, where you suggested she go down thread. She was respectful of Miley and the other LPs on tour, she said it was a personal choice, I don’t understand the vitriol you’re throwing her way.
        And before you say she could have walked out, have you ever taken sh*t from your boss and bitten your tongue only to complain to a friend later? If so, you my friend are a hypocrite

  7. Christin says:

    She seems so clueless that this thoughtful assessment will go completely over her head. I don’t think she’s using little people with the sole purpose of degrading them; however, that’s an end result.

  8. Lin says:

    Is anyone else not loving the new layout? I had to highlight the entire quote just to make the text legible against that background.

    • Jane says:

      I agree. Was going to say something about it. The quotes are very hard to read especially if eyesight problems already exist.

    • Lucinda says:

      Yes, it is awful. I gave up halfway through. I like the new layout. Just not the background of the quotes. I’m hoping that is just a glitch.

  9. Annie says:

    Is there anyone she doesn’t step on? Inhad not thought about little people. I guess we were all thinking about how much she appropriates black culture and how she disrespects black people in her own way that we forgot about the little people.

    She’s an asshole. Her entire act is disgusting and desperate because at the end of the day she just doesn’t know who she is. First it was pop princess, but she failed, then it was rock skank and it failed too, now this.

  10. Jackson says:

    I don’t know. Then don’t take the original gig? While I understand and mostly agree with what she’s saying, how is she any different from some young actresses who give the eye roll to their previous acting jobs? This woman wants, and deserves, to be treated like any other actress trying to work in LA except that just about every other actress in LA is judged 99.9% of the time on their appearance and not necessarily on their abilities, so in this regard she’s right there with everyone else in the industry. Does she really think the kid who goes to school for acting and grows up wanting to be in movies their whole life dreamed of getting the role of “stripper number 3” or “unattractive girl with acne at makeup counter?”
    As to MC, I have no idea what her take on little people is, but I’m not sure anyone else does, either. She’s an idiot 20 year old and many idiot 20 year olds have a lot of growing up to do. MC is no exception.

  11. Nanea says:

    Miley is an awful human being, no matter what.

    And she’s a racist too.

    When she did that interview with Hunger a few days ago, she complained about 70 year old Jewish men being too old to know anything about everything. As if every recording industry exec is either old and/or Jewish.

    • coolio says:

      I dont think what she said makes her a racist. The entertainment industry is filled with jewish people not that thats a bad thing

      • mar says:

        She is being demeaning to elder people and a whole race at the same time.
        Look at the context, she is being a know-it-all who is always right, so she assumes she can talk down on others.

      • lisa says:

        replace jewish with another group, does it still sound ok?

        for whatever reasons, using “jewish” in a negative sense seems to be acceptable with a lot of people

    • Crackberry says:

      JEWS ARE NOT A RACE!!!!!!!!!! IT IS A RELIGION!

  12. Kristen says:

    Eh, I don’t generally like how actors/actresses are criticized for voicing negative opinions about previous jobs. Yeah, maybe she shouldn’t have taken the gig or whatever, but that doesn’t mean her opinions are invalid or she isn’t allowed to speak her mind ever again because she took it in the first place.

    Plus, she wrote this on her personal blog. She didn’t give an interview (yet, anyway).

    • EmmaV1 says:

      The point is though, Miley didn’t force her to do the job and if all the little people refused, I highly doubt Miley would give an interview saying “little people suck”, she’d simply not use little people. It’s her own fault for doing a demeaning job and don’t give me crap she needs to make a living because she could go work at McDonalds. You don’t sell your dignity and then try to cry foul.

      • Enn says:

        You do know that working at McDonald’s is not making a living, right? It’s been proven that it’s almost impossible to pay monthly household bills and still have money for things like heat. I’m not getting into a poverty debate, but this is the second time you’ve said this.

      • Steph says:

        You clearly have too much time on your hands. I was scrolling through the nets to see what people are saying and you have commented so many times. You think she shouldn’t be complaining. We get it.

      • Sloane Wyat tt says:

        “It’s her (Hollis Jane’s) fault for doing a demeaning job and don’t give me crap she needs to make a living because she could go work at McDonalds. You don’t sell your dignity and then try to cry foul.” – EmmaV1

        You do know our capitalist society isn’t designed to be without a lower class, right? And that’s the class you are in, EmmaV1, if you ‘go work at McDonalds’ – the working poor class. Working at McDonalds forces you every month to choose between buying groceries, paying the rent, or making a car payment. If everyone was equally clever, reliable and industrious, somebody would still have to make due with less than everyone else, because that’s how this society is designed.

        Marginalized people know: The Man does not carefully set aside jobs for all the smart, good workers out there because He does not give a shit about anyone but himself. Marginalized people have some savvy about how the world really works. Marginalized people know they’d better have some nuts hidden away for winter, or they’ll starve, and it’s simple as that. Marginalized people do not share the delusion that The Man is looking out for them. – http://whatprivilege.com/we-tried-nothing-and-were-all-out-of-ideas/

        Little people are nothing if not the very definition of marginalized. That’s their reality. I don’t know you, but your reality seems very privileged with your flippant ‘let them eat cake’=‘go eat at McDondalds’ mindset.

        I do guarantee though, that if your opportunities were limited only a fraction of a little person’s, you’d take a demeaning, soul sucking job to make your ends meet. Who knows? Maybe, if you were in Holli’s shoes, you’d be lucky enough to have compassionate people empathize with you.

    • MavenTheFirst says:

      I am astounded how this woman is being pilloried for standing up and expressing her opinion and personal experience. The same thing happened to Sinead and a bit to Annie. I am astounded that people keep finding reasons to raise Miley up especially by putting the wisdom and integrity of others down.

      What a twisted, mud world we live in!

      • Ennie says:

        @Maven
        +1000

      • Leila in Wunderland says:

        @MavenTheFirst: I agree with you about this woman and Annie, (even though most people didn’t criticize Annie) but I have to disagree with you about Sinead. Sinead’s letters contained paternalistic slut-shaming and rape apologism. Those are things that need to be called out every time they happen, in order for them to end.

  13. Kat says:

    This woman’s honesty is really commendable! The first time I saw little people being used as props/”backup dancers” in M.C.’s performance, I felt uncomfortable and found it, as this lady correctly stated, degrading. I think Miley’s actions are completely self-serving in her perpetual attempt to be the center of attention, and she’s probably repeated some bullsh*t story to herself over and over again about how she’s doing them a “favour” in order to justify this type of exploitation. I think she’s too narcissistic, too selfish and too uneducated &/or stupid to figure out that she’s actually perpetuating a negative (and Medieval) stereotype. No one deserves to be put down in this way, and I think Miley and her parents all need a good bitch slap!

    • Eleonor says:

      I agree with you. Of all the things Miley has been doing lately the only one I’ve found really disappointing were the little people on stage: they’re not there because of their dancing skills, but because of they look freakish.

    • Mirna says:

      She’s telling her not to degrade herself to line other people’s pockets. Sound advice in my opinion. And Sinead speaks from experience. Not everyone who gets naked and gyrates on a stage is “empowered” – as you would have us believe.

  14. BeckyR says:

    Oh, please. She is a free agent. She could have NO from the git go. I thought the whole performance was hidious but she could have simply not taken the job.

    • Asdfg says:

      Did you even read her blog post? She didn’t know that she would be dancing in costumes until she got to rehearsals. And like others have stated above it’s not always a great idea to back out of a performance when you’re trying to be come a actor/actress. Even though she did perform, how does that justify the fact Miley is using people as props? She, Hollis Jane, didn’t come up with the idea of little people dressing in flower or bear costumes. Miley did. Miley okay’ed that. For some reason Miley is getting a pass for her behavior. If this was anyone else say, Beyonce, would she still be getting work? Nope. Her contracts would be ending left and right. Just sayin….

  15. mzizkrizten says:

    All her words can be applied to females as a whole… the longer the female race agrees to be used as sexual props the longer it will take before we are taken seriously. And I’m glad this woman spoke up and I am sure more like this will follow.

  16. I Want To Live In New York says:

    I am just please you did not use a picture where she is sticking her tongue out.

  17. Dingo says:

    Hey this is stupid – it’s link if blonds with Big boobs on the cover of Playboy gets whiny about being sex symbols!!

  18. d b says:

    Miley seems to be an incredibly underdeveloped person. Perhaps that’s a consequence of being a child star, but she seems to think only in terms of PR and what is going to make $$. She’s boorish. And if exploiting stereotypes will make her a buck, that is what she will do. Her ideas of what is cutting edge and “shocking” only prove what a narrow minded background she comes from

  19. Jaded says:

    Miley’s arrogance, insensitivity and self-obsession is going to go too far and create a big back-slide in her career at some not-too-distance point in time. People are going to start suffering from ‘Miley-burnout’ as she struggles to create more freakish and outrageous buzz around her. It only showcases her incredible stupidity and vanity, and as she continues to vomit out ignorant comments she is digging a pit for herself where ‘has-been’ entertainers eventually bury themselves.

    I, for one, can’t wait for that day.

    • ChicagoGirl says:

      This is why I can just shake my head at what she’s doing now. As much as she thinks she’s changing culture, she’s not. Her parents and handlers allowed her to live in this tiny bubble where she developed extreme arrogance. At this point, though, she’s an adult and capable of understanding her use of stereotypes, cultural appropriation, etc is offensive. Miley chooses not to recognize any of this because that recognition would inconvenience her. People like this, famous or not, are often knocked down hard at some point.

      • Evelyn says:

        At this point, though, she’s an adult and capable of understanding her use of stereotypes, cultural appropriation, etc is offensive.

        One thousand times yes. No 20 year old DOES NOT know this, I won’t give her the age pass, she’s not some wife eyed kid who has never left their hometown

      • Lucy2 says:

        I’ve been seeing the bubble thing too. She thinks she’s the first to do shocking things and everyone should take notice. Some can be chalked up to foolish youth, but the rest is due to her growing up in an overly scrutinized bubble. I think it really messed with her head and someday if she ever matures intellectually, we’ll see her saying so.

    • Snap Happy says:

      @Jaded: Well said! There is a line and eventually she will cross it. She doesn’t have the staying power of a Madonna to be relevant for much longer.

  20. Mabs says:

    Miley’s an early 20th century traveling circus act.

  21. Theresa says:

    To me it is totally within reason, and not biting the hand, to come out now with her true feelings about the experience. You can see from her very intelligent and thorough essay that she was harboring these feelings inside herself since the VMA gig, but it was a debate on facebook describing another situation that prompted her to add her voice. She has a distinct perspective, as well, as a participator, not just an observer, and it takes guts to call out someone like Miley, who does not take criticism well. She may suffer professional backlash, but she walks away with her esteem and pride.

    Peter Dinklage is proof that LP can establish a career and thrive in this business on talent. I hope this woman continues to pursue her dream, stay true to herself and surround herself with positive and supportive people.

    • Becky says:

      ITA. It sounds like paying jobs are pretty hard for her to find as an actress, so I totally understand why she was willing to initially consider the Miley Cyrus gig. A lot of us have done things we might not otherwise have done when struggling financially. The fact that she was still willing to walk away and then discuss her reasons for it show a lot of courage.

      • Bitca says:

        “Courage?” I was slightly dubious after reading the 1st story on RADAR; but OK; it was an anonymous statement that the dancers were NOT all cool with the gig.

        But in my eyes she lost a LOT of credibility when the next day, when she again is featured on RADAR—with a full face photo & name this time—in a post that is merely an elaboration upon the previous day’s story (but w/her name & pic).

        She could have quietly told her agent that after seeing the nature of the routine at 1st rehearsal, she would not demean herself in that way, & had to regretfully give up the job.

        Instead she pulls a Kath Heigl; bites the pocketbook that fed her & expanded her resume. Instead of turning down the gig, she took the $$ for the performance, THEN picks up some PR (& $ probably) from RADAR under a pretense of political correctness.

        Had she remained anonymous I’d find an excuse. Now, though, she looks like a transparent publicity-seeker. Her agent is gonna be pissed, & every casting agent who sees her headshot from now on will hesitate, & check who else is available.

        Of course, she might get a Reality TV show out of this. These days, who knows?

  22. Mikunda says:

    It’s a job for God’s sake. And if you want to express your feelings why not start by addressing them directly to that person first. I respect Miley for working hard and being successful. Afterall show biz is tough and not for everyone.
    With all due respect to the little person, I think she could have handled it in a different way if she wanted to sound sincere.

    • rudy says:

      Are you out of your mind? There is NO way some backup dancer could talk to Miley.

      You think the LP did this for publicity?

      What is wrong with you people? Have you no respect at ALL for what MOST of us go thru to have a life?

      Do you even know her NAME?

      What this woman did in writing this letter took a helluva lot more courage than you have in your little pinky. Look at the responses here, most are AGAINST her.

      Did you even read the letter? She said she NEVER takes jobs like this but thought, maybe, this one, and it was the worst she could have imagined. An act chosen to make fun of her status.

      Miley is a narcissistic ego maniacal KID who is now doing whatever she wants to get press. No matter who she tramples over to get there.

      WAke up people.

      • MavenTheFirst says:

        Yes. It’s shocking and depressing, isn’t it? ITA! And more than a little naive.

      • Belle Epoch says:

        Thank you, rudy! I am stunned by the harsh treatment this woman is getting, and how judgmental everybody is – as if they have ANY IDEA what it is like to be a little person trying to make good career decisions in show business. It was a learning experience for her, and ended up being the first time she felt like she was used as a prop and a freak instead of a performer like the other performers. I cannot even fathom how anyone would say “shut up and go work at McDonalds.” Getting accepted to perform at the VMAs is a big deal – of course she would give it a try. Anybody would. But it turned out badly and she will never do anything that degrading again. Why are regular-sized women judging her so harshly?

    • Becky says:

      What you’re describing is the equivalent of a mailroom clerk demanding facetime with their company’s CEO. Not only would it be very difficult to get, it’s unlikely they’d be very receptive to it. She’s not talking to a tabloid or selling her story for money, she posted it on her own website. I’m not sure what other avenue she could have used.

  23. Enn says:

    I am just not understanding all the “well she could have said no or just walked away!” comments. Like GiGi said, aspiring actors don’t have the luxury of just walking out on a gig unless they want to be dropped by their agents or have their names show up on a list of “uncooperative” candidates. I can also see how the money can be a draw when you’re facing a lot of bills and you think “Maybe I should just suck it up.” Haven’t any of you ever done anything you regretted?

    I’d also like to say that if this blog post had been written by a black backup dancer talking about how humiliated she felt to be used as a prop no one would say “Well she could have just quit.” No, it would be OMG MILEY IS RACIST.

  24. Amanda G says:

    If LP want the degrading to stop, then they also need to stop accepting gigs like this. It goes both ways. Good for her for starting a conversation though.

    • Jaded says:

      Maybe they need the money – pay rent, buy groceries, get car fixed, pay utilities…most people in the entertainment biz don’t have the luxury of turning down gigs like that.

    • Mirna says:

      No – I’m a black person and if someone asked me to dress up as Aunt Jemima or Sambo, I would refuse. Same for the black women, jiggling their asses up there. Once you decided to take the pay check, don’t whine about your “humiliation.”

  25. dorothy says:

    Funny that Miley doesn’t feel degraded by her own actions.

    • Jane says:

      That’s because in her “Molly” induced haze she is a Goddess and can do no wrong. If someone criticizes her she will call them something childish and hater(z) then go on to do more obscene things.

  26. Jaynab says:

    We’re the big people humiliated in the big stuffed bear outfits? I would be, but if I went ahead and took the gig, performed, cashed the check, any complaints go out the window as far as credibility. If she had walked out, refused to do it, that’s a different story.

  27. drea says:

    The very idea that entertainers are still using little people for shock value is appalling, and to do it with such naked intent is indefensible.

    At this point, are we still surprised that Miley will stop at nothing to “shock” people? That’s already old news. Good luck to her misguided little stans who continue to stand up for her crap, I hope they like the view from the bottom of the barrel.

  28. Zoid says:

    The problem isn’t just Miley here. How many little people can you list off that actually managed to get a respectable career in Hollywood? It’s not a long list. They’re used as props or for comedic relief in quite a few movies. I actually don’t think she was trying to shock anyone at home. I think she was going for her creepy baby effect and they were the best options to play it.

    • emmie_a says:

      Miley wasn’t trying to shock anyone? Just doing the creepy baby thing… — Isn’t the creepy baby thing shocking in some aspect?

    • sunnydaze says:

      @zoid: I get where you’re going, that perhaps “shock” isn’t the best word.

      I was watching Gabourey Sidibe (sp? ) on AHS today, and she hadnt been on screen 5 minutes before the fat jokes rolled out. It made me think about the larger black woman MC pretended to spank at the vma’s for some reason, and then how large people are treated in entertainment. Granted there are far more large actors who have found success than LP, but in this situation I think MC is an equal opportunity “user”. Almost like she sits around high as a kite making lists of people that amuse her, I.e. the “different” or the “other”. From the little I saw of the vmas, I didn’t see any traditional dancers…which normally I would applaud if her backup wasn’t being used blatently as props that almost highlighted her sexuality. As much as she wants to think she’s original, there are countless other thin blonde girls with funky hair cuts that dress ridiculously in the name of feminism. It may be a stretch, but it really seems like she doesn’t want to compete with those “traditional” dancers ( who have killer bodies because they work their asses off dancing, so body type diversity will always be lacking a bit). Instead, she parades those that are consistently used as props to look edgy, confrontational, etc. All the while the sexual attention is square on her. She’s done nothing more than exploit the historically exploited. Shes no better than aa ringmaster running a circus that justifies it as “they’re getting food and have a place to live, and they’re around others like them”. I just don’t see the difference.

      • Chicago Girl says:

        @sunnydaze Right on. I think your analysis of the situation is spot on. Miley is continuing to exploit the historically exploited for her own gain or to look “edgy.” And for those that wonder why any of the exploited groups would participate in this or why the privileged groups are cool with it: hegemony. In fact, Miley herself is playing into hegemonic ideas about female sexuality by baring her business all over the place and proudly parading around as a “video ho.”

  29. dagdag says:

    Someone is looking for a job, gets an offer, accepts the offer, performs as agreed and collects the paycheck.

    And is not allowed to express their feelings about the job, because the paycheck seals the deal?

    I think, the numbers of unemployment would, what,triple and more, if employees could choose their jobs simply protected by human rights.

  30. The Original Mia says:

    I’m sorry she felt degraded, but she did get paid for a gig. She went through with it, when she could have made a real statement by walking away from the gig when she realized what they wanted her to do. Don’t give me “she’s a professional, she would never be hired again if she complained”. Well, guess what? She’s complaining now. People are going to know her name. Same risks.

    I feel the same way about her actions as I did about Katherine Heigl’s after Knocked Up. Stand for something or fall for anything. Don’t take the money, then after the public outrage, come out with your own statements. It doesn’t make me think you’re strong. Just makes me think you’re jumping on a bandwagon of public sentiment because you didn’t have the cajones to do it when it would have been most difficult on yourself.

    • Ennie says:

      It was a show thatw a sgoing to be viewed worldwide, something to add to her resume. Maybe also she needed the money? Maybe she thought it would not be that bad and when she was in front of the audience and after that, when she saw the whole thing in video she was actually more repulsed? Being a little person greatly reduces the opportunities, and it is not like the LP dancers have so much clout as to be choosy and demand a whole description of their dance job before accepting.
      Judjing by the hoopla around the VMAs, not many thought it would turn up to be so raunchy and crass in regards to MC.

      I feel more empathy towards her than to Miley.
      The writer had no saying in the “creative” process, she was a prop. She was hired and if she had dropped, you do not know what were the consequences in the contract.
      That is why she did not accept the tour when she was proposed.
      Miley has a roght to voce whatever stupidity crosses her mind, well, also this person has a right to voice hers.

  31. Mari says:

    Miley is so awesome with her “edginess.” Maybe she’ll incorporate dwarf tossing and naked jello wrestling into her next VMA performance. I personally can’t wait…until her 15 mins are up, that is.

    I do agree that it is not just Miley to blame. The handlers and adults around her are turning a blind eye to her offensive transgressions and we are all culpable for giving her the attention she craves. I comfort myself in that she gets none of my money. With her antics, I have no interest in even giving her “music” a chance. Life’s too short and there are far too many truly talented artists interested in reaching emotions through their songs than gaining attention through shock value.

    Meh. Whatever.

  32. Lucy Goosey says:

    It always astounds me the passes this girl gets on her behavior. I honestly think she could kill someone and people would be defending her. After all, she is just young and expressing herself and it had to have been the other person’s fault.

  33. ALJsMom says:

    I am pretty sure people were paying more attention to Miley during the VMAs than the background dancers. I honestly didn’t even realize they were LP.

  34. Dawn says:

    Oh please. We live in a society that celebrates one woman getting pregnant while married to another man and we are going to pick on 20-21 year old who will one day be mortified by all this crap? I don’t feel for this little person because she had the opportunity to quit at any time. No one was holding a gun to her head. And yes I do believe that one day Miley will look back at this and shake her head at what she did but as far as I know it’s all for show and I don’t think Miley is selling herself to the highest bidder just yet. There are lots of disgusting famous people who no longer have their youth to blame for their actions Miley right now is not one of them.

    • .... says:

      Funny how that only applies if you’re white. You can do all kinds of nasty disgusting stuff then, and when you’re tired of it you can blame “youth”.
      Meanwhile Rihanna gets dragged through the mud and will never be allowed to put the past in the past or blame it on youth.
      So sick of white privilege and its enablers.

      • Ennie says:

        Dawn is enabling Miley because she is young and will “probably” (unlikely) regret her current crass, trashy attitude.
        On the other hand, this young woman who voiced her regret at accepting a much needed job she found degrading has to suck it up, she does not have the right to say what she feels.
        .
        Funny, isn’t it?

      • lisa says:

        how is rihanna dragged through the mud?

    • June says:

      Miley should not get a pass simply because she’s 20 years old.

    • dagdag says:

      @ Dawn

      No one was holding a gun to the head of the person working in the slaughter house for 1.50 an hour, right? And I guess anyone just has the opportunity to quit a job anytime?

    • Asdfg says:

      Miley is 20 years old. She may be young but that does NOT give her a pass to use people the way she does. She’s been in the public eye her whole life. She’s no stranger to controversy and she knows she could avoid it if she wanted to.

  35. bettyrose says:

    I wish I had the strength to not click on Miley posts. I’m so tired of this girl being defended because she’s “only 20” and the rest of us being depicted as repressed old biddies if we don’t get her message.

    Give.Me.A.Break. Some of the best music and most significant social change in the history of time has been fronted by 20 year olds (and younger). Youth have the amazing ability to combine energy with idealism and remind the rest of us of what used to matter.

    Someone her age is plenty old enough to know what’s offensive to other humans or to understand the difference between vapid entertainment and art that matters. Hey – plenty of people chase money & fame over social change, but I will not listen to crap telling me that bubble gum pop that manages to also incorporate racist stereotypes and offensive images of otherness is somehow acceptable because this girl has only been on earth for two decades. At her age, I was a college junior with strong ideas about the world, an officer in several campus political organizations, and my musical choices were far beyond what I enjoyed at age 12.

    • Lucy Goosey says:

      THIS! And what is worse is her act sexualizes children and childhood. That is not called “self-expression.” In clinical terms, it is called pedophilia.

      Miley is not the victim of sexism. She is the product of reverse sexism. If a male performer was sexualizing little girls in his performances, I doubt people would be patting him on the back for his daring acts of self-expression.

      And if a male performer was spending his “day job” twerking on women and grinding on a stripper’s ass, while expecting his “little lady” to sit at home wearing an apron and being faithful to him, no one would feel sorry for him when his sorry ass got dumped or cheated on.

      • Side-Eye says:

        I think betty and Lucy summed up everything I feel about her. I’m sick and tired of people defending this bullshit because she’s just such a “charming, empowered” young woman. Since when did being an ignorant, attention-whore equal being empowering or brave? And then of course her dumb ass Breaking Bad comments in regards to Walter’s cancer like can this cretin fade into the darkness?

    • June says:

      I totally agree. I’m sorry but when did being young mean you weren’t responsible for your actions? At what age does society say “you’re old enough to be responsible.” Even with horrible crimes like high school football players raping drunk classmates you hear that excuse. Their parents and people in the community shout ” but they’re only 17! Being sentenced to jail for 2 years will ruin their life!” No. Most of us have been 20-21 before. Although I was not perfect, I can honestly say that at 20 years old I knew that making fun of people for their mental illness is wrong. I knew that referring to people as “old Jews” was wrong. I knew that my actions had consequences. She does not get a pass from me simply because she’s 20 years old. We have really lowered the bar in regards to our expectations of young people.

      Also, the lady who wrote this essay has every right to express herself! The rational that just because she got paid means she can not say negative things about the job is weird to me. I get paid to do my job and I have every right to express myself! If anything we should be encouraging people to express their feelings about when they felt degraded. It makes no sense to me why people are being so mean to someone for just stating how she felt about participating in the performance.

  36. Emma - the JP Lover says:

    Does anyone here still believe Miley wasn’t ‘working the pole’ a few years back on that Ice Cream cart because she was ‘just a child’?

    Miley has always been a wild child. I’ll continue to support her ‘self-discovery’ phase, as long as she doesn’t continue to sexualize childhood by presenting herself as a sexy moppet.

    But see, I recall how sexual this girl has been since she hit puberty. Her parents didn’t seem to mind. Her dad even chaperoned her public dates with that model so we wouldn’t think they were having sex (because Miley was underaged). They were, and most of us knew it.

    Her parents were probably sexual at an early age too. The problem is … we weren’t all raised in the country, and neither–it seems–was the young woman who wrote the letter above. Miley really ‘does’ seem to be on a mission to sexualize childhood. Just think of all of the very young girls who will mimic her behavior.

  37. sean says:

    Did the little person cash their paycheck? Did she say “no” before hand? She could have.

    • Bijlee says:

      Priveleged thing to say. Miley cyrus has NO want for money. This actress does. Miley doesn’t have to do the things she does but she does anyways. Sorry that’s MUCH worse. And how often has miley complained about the Hannah Montana image???? I mean she made a sh-tload from that. So once you say this woman has no right to complain you start giving credence to those people who say miley should continue to be that stupid role model. Miley virus needs to be eradicated. The world doesn’t need another stupid popstar.

      I don’t blame this woman for along any job she could to get her foot in the door because she HAS to. I do blame miley cyrus for being stupid and highly uneducated.

      • mar says:

        I so much agree.
        Unlike the LP dancer, Miley is worth millions and millions. She could have to chosen any career after HM, or not work at all. She has choices.
        She now chooses make her comeback with this crass show, as if she had no choice or could not have done better with all her choices at hand.
        I am not saying she can’t, but there are so many women who do not have choices at all and she does this.
        How sad.

    • emmie_a says:

      For some reason I don’t like the way you’re using ‘little person’. It could just be me reading into your snarky post but she’s not just a little person. She’s a person, a woman, a dancer, a performer – you could have called her any one of those. Anyways, yes, we can assume she cashed her paycheck… BUT that doesn’t mean that she cannot have regrets. Bottom line, it doesn’t really matter that she got paid. She didn’t like the end result. Why can’t she tell her friends how she felt without getting bitched-out for doing so?

  38. Leila in Wunderland says:

    I’m glad that somebody finally called Miley out about this in a way that will get her attention. I’m not saying Cyrus is a bigot or anything. It’s just that she’s clearly clueless about the topic of othering. To tell you the truth, I’ve seen this problem with so many people from my generation. They’re not bigots, but they sometimes do or say things that other or trivialize different groups of people without intentionally trying to disrespect that group. They don’t get how what they’re saying/doing may either make a person feel like less than a person, or make them feel like they’re some kind of ‘token’. Like whatever that ‘different’ thing about them is has to be the main thing about their identity. There’s a difference between being inclusive and tolerant, vs. singling out someone because of their race, a disability they have, e.t.c. and making that thing about them part of a show. I want to see how Miley Cyrus will respond to this.

    There’s only one dilemma that I see with this issue of Miley Cyrus and othering: say she actually hears people out about this issue. Besides apologizing, should she mix it up with her dancers- make it so that it’s not just little people? Because if she just lets them go, that could be like an act of discrimination.

    • Jennifer12 says:

      If you want to defend Miley’s sexual acts and behavior, that’s fine and your business. But to say she isn’t a bigot boggles the mind. “Old Jewish men who run Hollywood won’t tell me what to do”- that’s not othering, that’s anti-Semitism. Othering is a nice word for what she’s doing. Why use little people in her stage acts and dress them up like they’re dolls? Why make herself the only white person surrounded by black people and say they’re lucky they’re not dancing in clubs? Or attack other women for sexualizing themselves and then do it herself? I’m all for women having each others’ backs, but this woman is a nasty little witch who will stab anyone in theirs, and is a racist to boot. And is also someone who treats people who are different as props in her circus and then tries to act as though everyone just doesn’t get her. To quote Maya Angelou, when someone shows you who they are, believe them.

  39. Ash says:

    I found this to be a well articulated and intelligent expression of this young woman’s experience. The American culture glorifies money and in my early 20’s I received the messaging from school, friends, family etc that landing a “high paying job” was the mark of success. I did land a well paying Consulting position out of college. At 24 I had 2 cars (1 company car, 1 personal), 2 cell phones, 2 computers and lived in a nice downtown apartment. I achieved what society said I should want, but I was not happy. I only lasted 9 months in that position and I decided that, while I don’t want to be a pauper in life, I don’t ever want to choose work for money again.

    Now in my late 20’s I am so happy that I leaned that lesson at a young age and am starting to reap some benefits from that choice. But it has been a tough road – going against what society wants or expects.

    So I can only imagine what it was like for this young actress. I think landing a job at the VMA’s is good exposure and a big deal so I would imagine that there were many people advising her that this was huge for her career. It sounds like she signed on to do this before knowing what the routine would look like so I am astonished at the negative responses stating that she has no right to express remorse and regrets over the performance. (* please note how I didn’t use the word “complain”.)

    She did mention the effect that the rehearsal had on her, but it is not uncommon for people to try to silence their inner voice, especially when they are young and/or inexperienced. I believe that dropping out of the VMA performance after rehearsal would have created career obstacles (obstacles not barriers) and she rationalized to herself why she could just do it.

    And so she did. And that performance brought with it unexpected results in the way that it made her feel. If no one else shares how something made them feel and you see that “everyone else is doing it” and people around you are acting as though this type of thing is “normal”, it is easy to try and suppress your own feelings as being “abnormal” and continue to participate. But it takes courage and maturity to validate your own feelings and go against the crowd.

    And that’s what she did when she decided not to accept the offer to join Miley’s tour. And by sharing this story, I believe it could help some other Actress, whether LP or not, to not have to experience the same pain; to know that if they are doing jobs that are making them feel this way, that it’s not normal and they don’t have to do it. While this experience was related to being objectified based on height, I see many parallels to women being objectified based on their physical appearance.

    I am absolutely floored at the rate of negative responses to this young woman’s statement. Experience is our greatest teacher in life. Sometimes you don’t know until you go through something. She went through it once, she reflected on the experience, and that experience informed her future actions (not going on tour). That’s wisdom. And now she’s sharing her wisdom. That’s not complaining. And this wasn’t an “open letter” to Miley that said anything negative about Miley. She recounted her personal experience.

    And as for the “pass” Miley seems to be getting: I am wondering if these same people defending Miley’s action use the same logic to defend pimps who exploit prostitutes, loan sharks who take advantage of poor people by exploiting the fact that someone is in desperate need of money and charging 300% interest rates, sweatshop factory owners paying workers pennies because they need work and don’t have many choices, etc. There are vulnerable members of society and that’s why we create certain laws to protect them. I hold some libertarian views so I understand those who want to think “Miley can do whatever she wants, others have a choice in whether they want to participate or not.” But that’s not the full picture. There are vulnerable people who are more susceptible to predators and if Miley wants to be treated and respected like an Adult than I think she should act with a certain level of moral responsibility. She does seem to conduct herself with this “they should be happy to have work” attitude as though she is that much different from a street pimp. Black women and little people: vulnerable members of society who already have enough opportunities to be exploited by society without the help of team Miley. Whether Miley likes it or not, she is a role model and she does have responsibility for what role she is modeling to young women. It’s a child’s attitude to say “I can do whatever I want.” I believe even the most liberated adults understand that there is freedom in discipline.

    • Jag says:

      + 1000!

    • mar says:

      What a beautiful post.

    • MavenTheFirst says:

      Lovely truth.

    • islandwalker says:

      Ash- Everything you you said and expressed so beautifully.

    • Ginger says:

      Your reply is not only rational but amazingly insightful. I refuse to put any more energy or time towards Miley Cyrus after she made ignorant comments about people with mental illness. BUT I couldn’t resist replying to your post as it really has to do with this amazing woman and her courage to say that the treatment of little people on Miley’s tour is not okay and less to do with Miley herself. Thanks for sharing your experience.

      • Ash says:

        Thank you Ginger! I feel the same way – as far as trying to avoid “Miley Media”. I actually like some of her new songs and think that I would have purchased those songs on iTunes, but I am intentionally not doing that because I think it would give her the wrong feedback. I think people are purchasing her songs/album in spite of her antics, but I think in her mind she will use the sales figures to justify her antics. I think there is a difference between artistic expression vs using your celebrity status to irresponsibly perpetuate negative ways of being.

    • Sloane Wyat tt says:

      Best comment ever, Ash! It’s super effective!

    • Ash says:

      Thank you for the positive replies everyone! Honestly I expected more negative feedback based on the way most people responded to the original post. Glad to know I am not alone in my opinions!

    • Tiffany :) says:

      Wow, Ash! So insightful, I really enjoyed reading that.

  40. eatingpie says:

    Everytime someone defends Miley by stating that “Oh, but she’s only 20!” I look at myself at the tender age of 19, and I think, “Yeah, I’ve made some crappy decisions in my short almost two decades of life, but all these comments are just degrading to my intelligence.”

    Because I can guarentee you, that even though I’m a WHOLE YEAR younger than Miley, I at least have the ability to discern between right and wrong, and the common sense to not only acknowledge all the mistakes I’ve ever made (and I’ve made A LOT, trust me), but to also recognize all the mistakes Miley is making now.

    Because yes, at the age of 20 perhaps I don’t have as much worldly knowledge at people twice my age, but for crying out loud! I’m not some vegetable that can’t make my own decisions and own up to my own failures and short-comings.

    It’s time Miley grew up (and stop giving all youngsters out there a bad name) and recognize her own failures, because if she doesn’t soon, her grand fall will just be all that more disasterous and epic.

    • Ginger says:

      Bravo to you! I too was mature and experienced and extremely responsible at the age of 19. I’ve not had an easy life and that resulted in growing up rather quickly. I think of Miley more in the terms of someone who is entitled rather than a young girl. Yes, it’s true she is young but you are correct that shouldn’t giver her a “free pass” either. She is certainly old enough to know that in her position she can influence a lot of people and that her actions and words are going to be judged. I just don’t think that she cares. I don’t think it’s fair to lump a bunch of folks together simply due to their age. Ageism goes both ways. You can judge people for being too young just as easily as discriminating against someone for being “too old”.

    • bettyrose says:

      Yes, eatingpie! Thank you for saying this. I agree with everything Ginger has already said.

  41. ParisPucker says:

    Am so glad this was written about, and frankly, as I mentioned in a much earlier post, this ‘accessorizing’ of her stage with ‘midgets’ as some kind of ‘doode, wouldn’t-it-be-cool-if-we-had-midgets-dancing-in-gimmick-suits-and-all-slutty-like-twerking-and-dancing-n-stuff’ as a ‘genius’ idea likely coming from a weed induced haze is just so BEYOND offensive!!! Like I said in my previous post, I have a cousin who is a *little person* (the PC term by the way) and she just gets so upset whenever she sees sh*t like this exploiting little people to be these gimmicky used individuals to literally be laughed at. It’s heartbreaking to see her upset, because after all, what can you do about people’s ignorance and STUPIDITY?!? And please, *please* don’t come back at me with: well, they chose to take the gig! They’re getting paychecks! This story proves they were shady about it because it was so blatantly wrong. Just because someone is getting paid to do something, doesn’t make it right, ok??

    I really, *really* hope that this Miley-character gets a good kick of the MilliVanillis or VanillaIce or whatever, because someone who is so beyond ignorant, stupid, ADDING ZERO VALUE to culture deserves this much attention and money. By allowing her to be famous is to validate everything that she is putting out there..not to mention the 14 yr olds out there now who think it’s cool to wear pastes and gyrate their nether-regions in the cafeteria and playground because of her!

    Can’t thank you enough for blurring out her tongue and nasty bits, but moving forward can we please just *blur her* out or coverage on her altogether?

    I don’t think I’ve ever had such a strong negative reaction to someone since Gaddafi, and I think I would have preferred to see him twerk over this disaster on legs.

  42. Greata says:

    This girl is offensive on so many levels. Her parents who seem only to be interested in keeping the Miley gravy train going are unconscionable. I’m sorry but as a woman , I dislike attacking young girls, but this girl/woman /child whatever you want to label her has to be called out on her bigoted and egotisical attitude. Yesterday in the DM she talked about not listening to “70 year old Jewish men” who want to tel her the kind of music to make. As a Black woman, I find this and any type of racism unacceptable. (…AND…. no I am not
    too sensitive..or have a chip on my shoulder about my color. I am married to an Austrian/German man,and we have two children. To not slam this behavior is to betray my self, my partner, and the possibility of a better and more informed future for my children. )This girl needs to be schooled in some manners. END OF RANT!

    • Jennifer12 says:

      YES!!!!!! I’m from a biracial and bireligion family as well, and the crap that comes out of this woman’s mouth is unbelievable. I can’t believe people want to DEFEND her. She’s blatantly racist and anti-Semitic. And why are the little people the only ones who have to wear stupid costumes in her shows? Why do they to be bears and flowers and whatever else, when people of regular height are just in clothing?

      • Asdfg says:

        @Jennifer

        Why are the little people the only ones in costumes? Because Miley is using human beings as props. In her mind she probably thought little people dressed in flowers and bears would be extra “trippy” for her already trippy performance. 🙄

        For her IheartRadio performance she had people dressed as mushrooms, rainbows, flowers, etc, typical hippie stoner stuff. I’ve heard lots of stories about tripping on LSD/shrooms and most say everything is animated/cartoonish.

      • Sloane Wyat tt says:

        Asdfg, tripping’s more like Ke$ha’s ‘Blow’ video – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFWX0hWCbng

        All the colors look like neon lights from the 80’s, and everything’s really shiny!

  43. aquarius64 says:

    I always thought Miley’s use of back up dancers has been exploitive. This dancer is brave for coming out this way because she is putting future employment on the line. Karma is coming back on Miley and I think it’s starting. Bangerz is selling well thanks to Ratchet-palooza, but neither the album nor its singles (We Can’t Stop, Wrecking Ball) have been nominated for the American Music Awards. I’m predicting it’s not going to get much recognition come Grammy time. Miley may think she’s in control, but the fact she is performing on AMA shows the industry is exploiting her. Now she insults industry bigwigs with a racial insult. (Industry run by “70-year-old Jewish guys”.) Intended or not, do you honestly think the people that have the power to bring her down as quickly as they brought her up are going to forget it? They will use her to rake in the cash but as soon as Miley does something so stupid it hurts the money flow long term TPTB will throw the Twerk Jerk under the bus.

  44. Jennifer12 says:

    How many roles are there for little people who want to act or dance? This woman was trying to get work and then realized she was selling herself. I admire that she spoke up and turned down further work. Miley can pierce herself, tattoo herself, wear grills and shave her head, but at heart, she is racist, anti-Semitic, and has little regard for people who are different. She isn’t even bothering to hide it. Boycott her…. I sure will.

  45. goldie says:

    miley cyrus is a very disturbed person with deep dark issues. there is NOTHING remotely sexy, intelligent, original or appealing about her in any way, shape or form. She is NOT an empowering, trailblazing woman of the 21st century making any inroads that I would want my daughter try to emulate. She needs serious therapy or to just disappear from the spotlight for abit until she sorts herself out. all I do wonder when I see her all over the media is what kind of childhood did they have? what kind of sick, pedo in the making is she to want to be a’ creepy sexy baby’? i don’t understand how she can say and do the things she is getting away with, without any RESPONSIBLE adult, viz PARENTS, intervening. Do her parents even care? or is she just a paycheck to them? then again, wasn’t her little sister in the news a few years back for promoting a line of kiddie lingerie and the issue was downplayed as childish innocent fun. There’s nothing fun or cool Miley that its A-O.K to sexualising children or childhood.

    • Jane says:

      Unfortunately her parents are weak and have perhaps two brain cells to rub together between the both of them. I swear, if I did 1/100th of what Miley has done, my parents would have disowned me, made my life miserable, and had the whole family humiliate me for years to come. Her parents refuse to put her in her place because both of them are on her payroll. Their house and other possessions are tied to her career and fortune. Honestly, what can you expect from Mr. Achy Breaky Heart and a mother who acts just like a teenager?

  46. Lucy2 says:

    I really feel for this women (and all the backup dancers being treated in thus manner). I understand why she took the initial job, and give her a lot of credit for turning down the tour opportunity. Sometimes you have to go through something difficult to learn about yourself and learn about how to handle it in the future, and it sounds like she’s done that here. And I’m very glad she spoke up about it.

  47. homegrrrrl says:

    As funny as chelsea h can be, I can’t abide the chuey thing. I don’t get it. I feel they make fun of his stature and his ethnicity. Same w these lp dancers. Doesn’t seem right. Maybe I’m not Hollywood enough to understand?

    Now we have some information about what its like from an lp pov regarding this type of show. Survival drives us all to experiment, and we all have learned our personal limits.

    Maybe chuey enjoys his job while this woman clearly did not. Yes, different jobs, but from my pov its similarly degrading.

    She woke me up, however. Would an lp be a character on say, friends, or SATC? And is it about time?

  48. RdyfrmycloseupmrDvlle says:

    So, Kid Rock routinely had on a Little Person at all of his concerts. He’d dress him up and ride him out on a white horse. he even sexualized him and proded him into playing at being some sort of “big stud.”
    Im just wondering why Miley is getting castigated for offering this dancer a solid regular gig and Kid Rock gets a pass. Just wondering.

  49. homegrrrrl says:

    I need to rinse my psyche out & focus on some inspiring new musical artist.

    Any suggestions?

  50. Itwillrain says:

    I’m surprised nobody is mentioning the guitar player on snl though. I had no idea he was part of a general theme of “little people” in Miley’s performances…I never noticed there were little people on the VMAs at all, actually. I was too focused on the Miley/Robin clusterf*ck. Anyway, the guitar player was seriously hot, IMHO. 😉

  51. jwoolman says:

    I don’t know why anyone would be judgmental about this dancer- it’s not unusual to not know how deeply you feel about a job until you’ve done it. She never did something like this before and now she knows. The casting call must have mentioned being below a certain height was needed, though, maybe it even specified LP? Obviously it didn’t mention the kind of costumes or other details. So she was surprised at rehearsal but felt obliged to go through with it, as the professional thing to do. Live and learn. I see no problem with her expressing how she felt and why. But to be fair, before jumping on Miley as Satan reincarnated – it would make sense to ask how the other dancers felt. My guess is that you would get as many different answers as there were dancers, from all different perspectives of age, experience, and personality types. Her reaction is quite legitimate, but probably not the only one.

    The reality is that it’s still difficult for LPs to get jobs that are not based on their height, although all actors and dancers have similar limitations based on everything about their appearance. I’m seeing occasional exceptions where the role could be played by an actor of any height, so this woman might be part of the breakthrough generation.

  52. Kahlia says:

    I honestly think this girl needed to pay the bills, got excited that she had the change to perform at the VMAs, and took the job without realizing exactly what it entailed. And then she stayed with it, even though she hated it, because that is the professional thing to do. And I commend her on blogging about the experience, because Miley’s attitude about it is very, “Oh, the little people love it and have the best time with me! It’s not degrading, it’s empowering them to have fun!”

    Also, I hate how quick people are to get judgy on this girl. I mean, if you’ve never had to take a demeaning job to pay the bills, I commend you. But if you have, you should maybe meditate on your job shame a little before getting nasty.

  53. michelle says:

    She chose to do a job for which she was paid. Her choice! Also, backup dancers pretty much are all props. They aren’t there to shine. They are there to make the star look good. And as for being chosen for a job based on your “look” or body type, that’s called show business. Get over it. Or quit.

  54. Daniel says:

    Bottom Line: She got PAID to humiliate herself. No one put a gun to her head, Conversation over….

  55. Kosmos says:

    Geez, to me, Miley has marginal talent, period. I think she has to play on all of these other diversions in order to get the attention she needs. Her talent alone will no longer work. It worked as Hannah Montana because of the age group. Tweeners don’t need huge vocal skill to be happy, let’s face it. But as Miley grows up, she needs to have real talent, which she doesn’t possess…at least not enough to keep our attention, so I believe this is all behind the new Miley approach. Ugg, is all I can say. I’m just waiting for her appeal to end so we can be done with her…sigh.