Miley Cyrus’ recent declaration that you “don’t have to be gay” because there are “good men out there” has caused something of a storm on social media.
The Wrecking Ball singer made the controversial comments on Instagram live on Sunday evening, accompanied by her new partner, Cody Simpson.
In the footage, the 26-year-old can be seen saying: “There are good men out there, guys, don’t give up. You don’t have to be gay, there are good people with d**ks out there, you’ve just got to find them. You’ve got to find a d**k that’s not a d**k, you know?
“I always thought I had to be gay, because I thought all guys were evil, but it’s not true. There are good people out there that just happen to have d**ks. I’ve only ever met one, and he’s on this live.”
Of the many prejudices lesbians, bisexual and queer-identifying women face, being told that they just haven’t met “the right guy” is a common one.
“hey uhhhhh @MileyCyrus nice take you got on being gay there but if you could go ahead and NOT perpetrate the idea that all a lesbian needs is a good d**k to make her straight, that’d be GREAT” wrote one Twitter user.
“Miley Cyrus really said that girls don’t have to be gay because there are plenty of ‘d**ks who aren’t d**ks’ out there. Oh my god”, said another.
“Miley, this is so not it. Women don’t “have to be gay” because they “can’t find a good person with a d**k”. Don’t use the queer community as a stop-gap because you couldn’t find a boyfriend. People aren’t queer because they “gave up” on men. This is so insulting.”
“Miley just said ‘you don’t have to be gay, there are good d**ks out there’ HELP”, wrote another.
Cyrus’ comments confused some fans, because of her previous comments about her own pansexuality.
In July, whilst in a relationship with Liam Hemsworth, Cyrus told Elle she was still “very sexually attracted to women.
“People become vegetarian for health reasons, but bacon is still f****** good,” she said.
Others cited her commitment to LGBT youth and how her comments were a personal dig at herself:
“Yeah, she should’ve choose words more deeply. But don’t hate her bcz of this, she has been putting a lot of energy and money for LGBTQ+, and has her own whole foundation to help homeless LGBTQ+, and openly talked about her sexuality.”
One fan insisted she was just joking: “she was just kidding and you know this! please stop with this unsupportable complaining”.
Another praised her freedom to speak her mind: “I love how Miley Cyrus is just so unapologetically herself”.
“Can you not? She was poking fun at how people joke about her sexuality. Just because she’s with a man doesn’t change her sexuality which she has clearly said before. She’s pan and very pro lgbt.”
In 2014, Cyrus founded the Happy Hippie Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation that works to support youth homelessness and the LGBT communities.
Cyrus has not yet responded to the criticism and is believed to be recovering from tonsillitis.
