Miley Cyrus has been experiencing a week of drama – photos came out of the teenager with friends, many of whom were making “slant eyes”. The OCA (Organization of Chinese Americans) issued a statement, basically calling Miley an anti-Asian bigot. Miley then half-heartedly apologized, basically saying that she didn’t mean anything by making “goofy faces”, then compared herself to Britney Spears. Her statement made it worse, something many commenters predicted. Now the OCA has fired back at Miley once again.
Miley Cyrus’ half-hearted “apology” regarding a picture of the tween star and her friends making slanty-eyed faces isn’t convincing anyone, especially the Organization of Chinese Americans.
“The picture is offensive and now this statement is inadequate,” George Wu, Executive Director of the OCA, an Asian-American equality group tells Celebuzz.
Yesterday Miley issued a statement on her website, saying she was sorry that some people misinterpreted her goofy faces, not that she was actually apologetic for making the face in the first place.
“I’ve also been told there are some people upset about some pictures taken of me with friends making goofy faces!” she wrote. “Well, I’m sorry if those people looked at those pics and took them wrong and out of context!”
That’s not enough, says Wu: “It’s not a real apology. We’re not backing down without a fuller apology.”
Your move, Miley.
From OK! Magazine
For God’s sake, Miley. Just say you’re sorry. It really wasn’t some huge deal until Miley made it worse with her non-apology. Here, I’ll even write it out for Miley, once again: “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend anyone, but I realize it was taken that way by some people. I apologize. Love, Miley.” What’s the big frigging deal? Issue that simple three line apology and it’s over.
Miley Cyrus is shown at the Golden Globes with her parents on 1/11/09. Credit: PRPhotos.
Update by Celebitchy: Here’s a great video by by Adriel Luis of iLL-Literacy about this controversy. [via Angry Asian Man]
She’s seriously on my ” want to kick in the face ” list.
I can’t stand this little twit.
You really have to put most of the blame on her parents. She is still a kid after all. My kids are grown now but they would NEVER have acted like that even when they were little. You have to talk to you kids about diversity and respecting all races. If the parents are racist and make jokes like that, then it’s likely the kids will too.
Seriously, why are they just giving her more attention and making her feel that she’s somehow relevant?? Can understand their beef with her but she’s a moron, an apology from her if one comes, is meaningless, why give her column inches?
What a little turnip-head. The father’s a bozo and the mother’s underwear, I mean dress, looks like someone took a weed whacker to the hem.
Send them all back to the corn crib.
Miley’s dad and Keith Urban are neck at neck in the: “Who can look like a woman with a five o’clock shadow” contest.
Also, her mom looks like a complete ditz. That vacant, mannequin-like stare is really disturbing.
Does anyone else think she really looks like LC in these pictures?
She must be thanking her lucky stars that Bale tape and Phelps picture were leaked.
Seriously, i despise this girl more and more.
what she said was offensive, what she did was offensive so shit, apologize!
(note to cb: sometimes i use my cell to access cb lol)
I don’t think Miley Cirus owes any more of an apology than she has already given.
Personal feelings for her aside (and I concur with “twit” and “turnip-head”), I don’t agree with turning everything into an assumption of biggotry and hatred.
Maybe they were all making a joke at their Asian friend who was there with them. While I wouldn’t say it was okay to make fun of another culture’s appearance, there is a big difference between stupid, immature, teenage humor (directed at teasing another member of their social group) and callously belittling Asians out of malice and biggotry.
Our society has gotten so overburdened wtih political correctness that we expect people to grovel for forgiveness for making dumb jokes with their friends.
And you know we have all done it. I have heard lots of people making jokes to their friends that, from a stranger, would be unbelievably offensive.
What Miley needs to get smacked upside the head for is her idiocy for posing for pictures, handing them out, putting them up on the internet, etc.
Doesn’t she get her vanity fed enough in the media? Does she really need more exposure?
I hate it when people demand apologies even though the person isn’t really sorry. I’d rather have no apology than a super-fake one. Miley Cyrus is no more sorry for this than a kid who stole a cookie. You’ll get your apology, OCA, with a smirk and a whole lotta condescension.
You know, it’s funny. She thinks we’re all waiting for her to pull a Britney Spears trainwreck stunt because there’s so many parallels between their careers. I’m waiting for her to become a trainwreck because she’s such a BRAT.
Britney started off as a very sweet girl. Miley? Nope.
Here’s your apology,*expletive in Chinese*. Happy now ?
Edit: There’s no white prejudice in this country. Move along, you robots.
Well put, Czarina. No, I’m not defending Miley Cyrus! I don’t even like her and consider her to be another vapid twit, but the level of political correctness is just ridiculous.
It begs a mention, too, that this “OCA” that no one ever heard of before now gets more attention for themselves the longer they say “that apology’s not good enough”. I think they saw an opportunity here and are milking it for all it’s worth. She’s still a kid and calling her out like this and demeaning her is even more offensive to me as a mother.
Miley is an arrogant twit. Rude, obnoxious,and overrated. Sick of the rude tweens shirking responsibility. I blame the greedy parents allowing such disrespect. Miley is Ali Lohan 2.0.
It is easy to say that the slant eyed gesture is no big deal and something that everyone does, just a joke, ha ha, when you are white and wear your racism casually. Not quite so funny when you are Asian. Not so much fun when you are the mother of an Asian child who is ridiculed at a predominately white elementary school for belonging to a different race. The face you and your friends were making wasn’t goofy Miley, it was racist, and you are a bigot.
She doesn’t owe another apology, I think the OCA is being stupid. Who cares, really? What can they really do if she does not apologize? Nothing. Complain.
Boring, let’s get some real news!
Czarina, well put!!!! This PC is getting ludicrous by the day
Says those who’ve never been judged by the color of their skin.
Don’t throw that “everything’s so pc” crap around. Talk when your parents have been spat on just because of their country of origin.
and then maybe you can understand why it’s offensive
Miley Cyrus is too dumb for anything she says to be offensive. Remember that leaked video of Paris Hilton saying “the N word?” Did anyone think enough of her to be offended? There are bigger fish to fry
I’m just getting behind the Asians at this point because I can’t stand that chipmunked hillbilly.
Georgia, you are an IDIOT! there I said it. What an ignorant comment, what does it have to do with whales anyway? stick with the issue!
Oh, for petes sake.
tigerlile, CO-SIGN! You can read the posts and know you’re dealing with naive people who don’t deal with bigots and racists everyday. Just because most posters call it “pc”, that means they want to say racist stuff without repercussions. Typical.
How many times is this girl going to have to apologise for being a teenager. If I had to apologise publicly for every mistake I made as a teenager, I’d be grovelling for the rest of my life. It just shows that fame and the public eye is on these kids way too young, and we know too much about them with the popularity of the internet. I feel sorry for her, she’s just behaving like her age, but the media spotlight doesn’t allow it.
“How many times is this girl going to have to apologise for being a teenager.”
She needs to apologize for being racist and mocking the facial features of a huge group of people.
and how many times?
lets begin with one. I haven’t seen her apologize yet.
Then, she needs to apologize for being stupid.
She knows every picture she takes with other people would get out there if there’s something more than a smile in it.
So either she is so racist that she doesn’t realize what’s the matter with being racist or she is so stupid that she hasn’t realized this would circulate on the internet.
I’m never one to support Cyrus, but i think the OCA is making too much a deal out of it. It’s kids goofing around! Get real jobs, wankers.
Autumn Leaves – “Just because most posters call it “pc”, that means they want to say racist stuff without repercussions.”
Well that’s a bit of a naive and irrational and offensive charge against people you know nothing about. Step back, see what others are seeing: a ridiculous battle by a so-called adult org against a stupid 16yr old that no sensible person would take any notice of. Nothing to do with condoning racism.
Miley is not a typical teenager. She can’t use her age as an excuse for her stupid behavior. Anyone with so much riding on public perception of them does have knowledge of how to piss people off and how to behave themselves. She is, in my opinon, just getting away with being a rude little bitch by using “I’m just a goofy little girl” to avoid taking responsibility for her obnoxious actions. She’s pretty low rent.
I am not a fan of this girl at all. Look at all the things she has done and said. The online stuff, the catty behavior, not to mention her parents letting her date an adult. I don’t find her a role model, and I think success has gone to her head.. I find her just so “low rent”. I love Dakota Fanning. Beautiful, talented, and a great example of what a 15 year old could be. I would love more coverage of her.. Miley needs to get a reality check. These kinds of things will keep happening. She wants to get away from the Disney “good girl” thing, and she is doing whatever to make it happen. JMO..
i think people are getting too worked up about this. I personally don’t like miley cyrus but this is just stupid. She’s just a teenage girl taking stupid pictures with her friends. Everyone needs to get over it. This is getting a little old.
i don’t think holding her accountable ever gets old, frankly. She puts herself out there as a “role model” and makes a fortune out of it, and she’s fully aware of things like “demographics” and cultural differences. If she’s really as stupid as all this indicates, the girl needs to be in a special environment and her parents need to be investigated for making their brain damaged daughter perform like a donkey for money. In my opinion.
Teens do stupid stuff, they don’t think. I know this, you know this, my 90 year old great great grandmother knows this. No one is exempt from it, we’ve all done stuff we may have thought was funny at the time but when look back we’re shocked at how we may have acted.
Please, get over yourselves, you’re no better, no worse.
Is this what the world has come to? Waiting for someone to slip up so we can rail them for it?
Don’t mean to sound harsh, but even “regular” kids learn in elementary school about racism and what’s offensive to different cultures.
*sigh* Yet another thing to add to the list of why I don’t allow my children to watch her or buy her products. Seriously, I think maybe we should have a boycott Miley group. Perhaps when she’s not raking in the bucks she’ll rethink her blase response when people call her out for being a complete racist, dating an adult, taking half naked photos of herself with her cell phone, saying ridiculous things… etc.
Don’t mean to sound harsh, but even “regular” kids learn in elementary school about racism and what’s offensive to different cultures.
—
Yup.
People make mistakes.
This is true, but we apologize for our mistakes.
And when you’re out there making millions of dollars and influencing impressionable young girls and boys, then yea, you should know what you’re doing.
And hey, she’s “mature” enough to date a 21 year old. So why isn’t she mature enough to realize she made an OBVIOUS mistake and apologize for it.
This is getting a little old.
Yea. So is having to deal with racism in a country that’s supposed to be about equality. Funny.
Look kids, I’m black and have experienced probably way more racism and open hostility than any of you and I think you are overreacting. If Miley Cyrus were standing there with a 40, pants sagging and a backwards hat, I would be saying the same thing: she’s a dumbass teenager doing dumbass things.
For those parents who are concerned about your child seeing her as a role model, STOP IT. A 16-year old should not be a role model. Ever. Especially one in the entertainment industry which is all kinds of messed up for young people.
Stop letting your kids learn their morals and good behavior from entertainers. It isn’t their job to be role models. They are pushed into it by lazy parents who want the tv to raise their kids. Teach your children not to idolize other children.
Uh. I’ve experienced quite a bit of open hostility in my short time existing. And my parents have as well. Actually, definitely worse than me.
Don’t assume you know.
And you know, if she did those things you described that wouldn’t offend you. That’s fine, I’m sure they wouldn’t, they’d offend me and I would bet that the NAACP would heartily disagree with you.
The thing is, you can’t get offended every time someone says or does something disparaging. You’d be offended 24/7.
My grandparents moved to California to get away from Jim Crow laws. My mother was told by her parents not to say certain things or do certain things because she was black. My mom and grandparents had a horrible time in this country but if they got offended every single time someone said something or did something to them, they would have been absolutely miserable. So instead of being miserable, they let the small things go (random folks calling them names, putting signs in front of their house that said “Get out, n*ggers”, teenagers making “monkey” faces and calling my grandad “boy”) and moved on.
You can’t let every little thing bother you. Miley Cyrus is a teenager living in a major spotlight. Teens do stupid shit. While it wasn’t the most intelligent thing to do and she should apologize for being a general moron, demanding a second apology from a clearly unapologetic person seems silly.
She’s not sorry. Like I said before, I’d rather have no apology than force someone to make a fake one.
The double standard bothers me more than the implicatons of racism or bigotry. This girl IS a role model. Girls emulate her behavior and actions and want to be like her. If she truly did not know better, it is appropriate for her to apologize for inadvertently offending anyone and demonstrate that she learned something out of this episode. That is what civilized people do. And it would impart a valuable lesson to her legions of fans. Demonstrating good manners should be the least mothers of girls who spend their money buying her products demand for their money.
Michael Phelps, on the other hand, is ridiculed and hounded without mercy until his one “mistake” did cost him some endorsements. He spent years training in obscurity to become a record breaking Olympic champion, for god’s sake, and that fact is completely ignored in order to persecute the guy for his act of independence at a college party with other kids doing the same thing, which hurt no one but himself. His achievements, which are real and hard won are ignored. He had to suffer and pay dearly for his indiscretion.
Miley’s “achievements” are the result of presenting a fake image and people are more than delighted to ignore it, for some reason. It bugs the hell out of me.
So, NotBlonde, no offense, but I’m not so worried about Asian feelings or African-American feelings as I am about the unwillingness to demonstrate basic good manners on the part of Miley.
@ Autumn Leaves
Thanks for the boost. What did you mean by CO-SIGN?
@boomchakab–I appreciate the fact that you have more respect for Phelps than Miley Cyrus (understandably), but there is a much bigger difference than who is a more accomplished person: Phelps committed a crime, Miley did not.
Oh, stfu already! Please, look at the asian guy right next to them! For all we know it was his idea to take this picture as a “funny” thing and next they probably imitated rednecks. Who the F cares? The apology should come from that guy who is letting this take place if its supposed to be sooo offensive! For all we know, they were probably making funny faces of being high or drunk and that guy was like “I don’t need to do that, my eyes are already like that!” Who the f knows? Not me, not you and definitely not angry asian man. So let it go! I hope Miley isn’t thinking of giving another apology. That would be admitting to actually purposely doing something offensive. No! Sorry you people took it the wrong way!
czarina, I knew that would be brought up, but the what I’m getting at goes deeper than that. Crime or not, what Phelps did hurt no one but himself and what Miley did, did in fact hurt someone else. Phelps took responsibility for his actions and showed good grace and better behavior by doing so. Miley is pushing an image of being a bratty litte snot who refuses to accept responsibility for her actions. People are willing to let their kids see Miley as a more desirable person to be than someone who his butt off to get in the record books and prove himself to be the best in the world in his field. That, to me, is a crime that hurts society.
And by the way, racism is considered a crime.
Edit! “than someone who WORKED his butt off”
Anonymous, I beg to differ. Apologizing for offending someone when you didn’t intend to is evidence you have manners and truly didn’t intend to hurt anyone. That’s not “admitting” you did something wrong. It’s called grace, it cost nothing and makes the world a better place to live.
Mom: A boycott would be first class!
Miley is annoying and out of control. Her parents need to keep a tighter leash on their 16 year old. Impressionable tweens etc. see these pics and hear that Miley says that she was just making a goofy faces with her friends. And no intentional racial undertones were involved. Secondly, her fans will think that if Miley does it for fun, I can too. Unfortunately, that goofy face is culturally insensitive. Her parents need to step in and set their 16 year old straight. And in my opinion, as she is an entertainer, and as kids follow her every move — she should know better. Miley at 16 should be more culturally aware. And yes a more thoughtful apology could have gone like this: My friends and I were making goofy faces and by no means were there any racial undertones intended. However, I do apologize as it can be construed as such and when taken out of context be seen as racially insensitive. And thus, I apologize to anyone that it may have offended.
ditto: Thank you.
I agree with Lynn’s post.
Miley is an arrogant, nasty twit who is actually old enought to take responsibility for her own actions.
Geronimo, Just because you don’t agree doesn’t negate my post. I usually agree with your posts, not on this.
On topic with Miley-she is a spoiled teen with too much success. Her parents care about Miley the meal ticket, otherwise, they’d teach her some doggone respect. She’s outta control. Then again, I read her parents background, so she got her low class honestly. She’s another spoiled, rich teen without parameters.
MomInNH, you deserve a medal of courage because you have the foresight to see Miley for what she is. Bless your heart :-). I wish more parents were like you.
Tigerlile CO-Sign means I agree with your post word for word :-).
I’m already boycotting that twat.
And every other Disney product as well (except Pixar movies, those are not contaminated by Disney-dumbeness).
In the hope that Disney will stop ruining kids who work for them.
Here’s my thing on all this, (again lol).
I think that yes, if you were offended for everything, you’d be miserable all the time. This is true. We won’t argue on this, but I believe that being offended is a good thing. Because then you’re driven to DO something, if Martin Luther King Jr. didn’t get offended, do you think we’d have what we have now? If Cesar Chavez wasn’t offended by the really shitty way that agricultural workers were being treated, do you think we would have what we have now?
And I would say that a good number of my black friends would disagree with you. They believe that taking offense is the foundation for making things right! 🙂
On a random: You would think that CA wouldn’t have racism, but oh, trust. It definitely does. Not so bad as the South though, you’re definitely right about that. I had some guy come up to me and straight up go. “You’re not a N___ and you’re not white, what the fuck are you? One of them yellow folks?”
I was like slackedjawed. WTF?
And mind you, this was last year. 🙂
I’m beginning to take offense at the notion that the South is the seat of all racism in the US. It’s not, plain and simple. I’ve lived in many states and found the North in general to be the most blatantly racist region.
It’s not the “seat of racism” lol.
That was my personal experience there.
I was trying to point that racism is everywhere, but I suppose I did a poor job of that.
Either way, it is, and the point is, we shouldn’t further it by giving Miss Cyrus a pass.
Boomchakaboom: generally people see the South as rather racist because it has the history of slavery and whatnot and most of the troubles with Jim Crow laws and legal racism happened there. That’s the “why” people see the South that way.
I completely disagree with you about the “role model” thing. She is not a role model. She is paid to sing and act and that’s it. If some kid wants to look up to her as a role model, it is the parent’s responsibility to make sure that that kid understands that Miley Cyrus is a child herself and should not be looked up to. No celebrity is a role model. They are paid to do certain things and people admire these things. But looking up to a teenager who can’t sing, has a weird low voice, has tiny rat teeth, wears make-up an inch thick and enough hair extensions to wig at least 3 other people…parents should be on that.
Annie: Martin Luther King Jr. and Cesar Chavez needed to do something about their communities individual situations because there were people being seriously abused, physically and emotionally, day in and day out. There was legal racism in both cases. In both cases, their communities had people dying for no other reason than being that ethnicity.
Having someone nail a sign that says “Get out n*ggers” on your lawn and being lynched are two completely different things. You should be mad, offended, hurt, and all that if someone kills someone, destroys a store, legally discriminates against you and such.
I don’t think Miley Cyrus is racist, nor do I think she meant that in a racist way. I think she was messing around with her friends.
Well of course I understand all that but for me, it’s scary to think of at what point do we push the limits?
Ok, we can’t get offended by the pictures, but what if she DID put a sign on someone’s lawn? Maybe we shouldn’t get offended by that either….and then it just keeps going.
I understand the difference and the intensities between some pictures amongst friends and lynching. (:() But I just think that if she’s offended that many people, she should at least realize it was offensive and not turn around and call my face “goofy”.
Because then little girls can go around and do the same thing and then not care that they’ve hurt someone’s feelings. I just see it as something that could be very troublesome for my little sister, and that pisses me off.
You may disagree on the role model but, but there are kids that look up to her. Why? I don’t know. But you have an inherent responsibility when you’re in the spotlight and you’re getting paid THAT MUCH. I think being conscious of that is the least you can do.
NotBlonde, I know the history of the South, but I also know the history of the horrendous treatment of blacks in the north at the hands of those who pretended to care about blacks during and after the Civil War. Blacks thought they would be treated like humans in the North but they were treated as sub-human anyway. Frederick Douglas, Sojourner Truth, and others found the treatment there to be as bad if not worse. Worse maybe because in the North they were indeed free, but were treated like dirt – subjected to beatings, not welcome anywhere in public, etc.
Sojourner Truth is my personal most awesome person to ever open her mouth. Her “Ain’t I a Woman” is the most moving speech I’ve ever heard and still brings tears to my eyes every time I read it. She was something else.
OH holy cow batman. If their eyes are slanted, they’re slanted. Everything is not a case for the supreme court. The ones offended want to be offended!!
boomchakaboom: Unfortunately the vast majority of the American public are sub par when it comes to intelligence and a thirst for knowledge. I bet if you asked 10 random people on the street about racism in this country, they’d all point to the South.
Annie: The line is usually drawn when someone is directly affected by whatever it is. If that Asian kid had come out and said that he was offended by it, then it would have been ok, I feel, for everyone else to jump in on it. Maybe he’s already had a talk with her and her friends about it. Maybe he just doesn’t care. He’s the only one who should really have a major problem with it, I feel.
I also think that a parent should monitor who his/her children are into. Since this is making the rounds, any parent who has a Miley Cyrus fan as a child should have taken their child aside and told them that her behavior was not ok and it could hurt people’s feelings. I just hate it when parents don’t take responsibility for their children.
It’s a lack of proper parenting or racism on the parent’s part that kids pick up. Kids will repeat anything you do, so where did they learn to say derogatory words? From their parents. Kids don’t even know what Miley is doing unless someone tells them (and Asian kids don’t know to be offended unless someone tells them) and it depends on what the parent tells them, not what Miley Cyrus does.
I think that parents should stop allowing their kids to make role models out of people who aren’t and should take responsibility for raising their kids. I also think that people should blame the real culprits for bad behavior amongst kids: other parents.
Oh come on people… this isn’t racism. You know its not. People here are starting to compare her actions to the slavery of the afro-american. My god people! Have you no sense.
My belief is that until we come to a time when we can unashamedly point out each others quirks and all smile about it and accept each other anyway, racism will continue to gain its power over us. Racism is a condition of the heart not our actions. Sure, our heart begets our actions, but thats not whats going on here. She has no ill feelings about Asians. You know this. I dont understand why people have to assume the worst in people. The people that ‘do’ assume the worst in people are those that annoy me more. So go on! If you want her to apologize, apologize yourselves for labeling her a racist. Because thats just as bad in my mind. Can u see how this “racism” “band wagon” thing people get on can compound and grow more hatred toward one another? Demanding apologies and labeling people has racist only makes people think less of you. They didn’t show her any grace and they didn’t get any back. Their statement should have read “Their probably wasn’t anything in it, but the Asian community was really quite offended by this picture” and leave it at that. Then when your apology comes it will be much more meaningful in genuine. You bestow her some grace and you get grace in return. Thats how racism will come to an end. I’m sick of people fueling it.
What Miley did IS racism. If you understood the history of racism against Asians in America then you wouldn’t hesitate to say that is racist.
Honestly! She shouldn’t be given leeway because she’s young. I know children who are ten and eleven who know better than to do that. If she doesn’t find anything wrong with her actions then that says a lot about her and her parents who obviously did not teach her any better.
Racism will only disappear when everyone learns to respect other races and that includes not doing as Miley does!
OMG. I’m asian-canadian and i think this whole situation is a joke.
If there was no asian guy in this picture this would have been racism, but seriously.. they were just joking around.
really, racism is much deeper and dirtier than this picture..
Whether she meant it in a racist way or not, Miley really comes off as a mean-spirited little brat.
I wish she would go home and stay home and not come out again.
Nonblonde….your family has been through so much. I think it’s incredible enlightened of them to let those things go. I don’t know if I would be able to…something to think about.