Miley Cyrus' duet with Robin Thicke at the 2013 MTV VMAs will go down in history as one of the ceremony's most controversial.
The "Wrecking Ball" singer burst out of a giant teddy bear, waved a giant foam finger around, twerked and grinded with Thicke while wearing a flesh coloured bikini, prompting a furore that showed no signs of abating weeks later.
As hundreds of thousands furiously tweeted their reactions, the Parents Television Council (PTC) issued a formal complaint, claiming MTV was sexually exploiting a young woman and airing television inappropriate for 14-year-olds. Others criticised Cyrus for her appropriation of twerking, with critic Judy Rosen writing a piece in Vulture claiming her act “tipped over into what we may as well just call racism.”
The performance was a pivotal moment for Cyrus, who abandoned her Hannah Montana identity in this show and went on to become one of the most controversial and influential pop stars in recent years.
For his part, Thicke blamed the controversy on Cyrus, telling Oprah he was an innocent man who was simply “twerked upon”, adding: “That’s all on her.”
Cyrus, who is due to host the VMAs on Sunday, told The New York Times she received most of the criticism because of her gender. “It was funny, because I got so much of the heat for it, but that’s just being a woman,” she said. “He acted like he didn’t know that was going to happen. You were in rehearsals! You knew exactly what was going to happen.
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“And he was actually the one that approved my outfit, so I thought that was very funny. He wanted me as naked as possible, because that’s how his video was. It was very much a collaboration. My part — “We Can’t Stop” — was all me. But when it went into “Blurred Lines,” that was his performance."
The 22-year-old says she was judged by everyone around her (except Kanye West), with her friends accusing her of being on drugs for the performance.
Cyrus said the reaction was so intense that even the ubiquitous Donald Trump called to offer his opinion on the performance.
“I was staying at the Trump Hotel and Donald Trump literally called and said, basically, ‘I know everyone’s talking about it, but I loved it.’”
