To drum up buzz for her single “7 Things” and its Brett Ratner-directed music video release, Disney starlet Miley Cyrus claims the song is about an ex-boyfriend who she wants “to be upset. That was my point. Maybe after my video we’ll hear from somebody, because it’s pretty honest.” Naturally, the finger pointing lands squarely on Jonas Brothers star Nick Jonas, as the two were said to have dated last year — but let’s not play pretend: the whole scenario was very likely a Mickey Mouse orchestrated set up to drive interest in their brands. And now that the two have “split” (just in time to promote the tour)? The perfect time for a “boys suck!” anthem!
Know what it’s also perfect time for? Speculating on another break up … between Miley an Disney. CONTINUED »
Well, this is unsettling:
Miley Cyrus‘ pics in Vanity Fair may have been scandalous, but she should look on the bright side, because now she has a whole new crop of admirers! Only problem is, they’re felons.
Miley has received thousands of love letters from prison inmates since the magazine hit newsstands
Hannah Montana’s ratings are down, she’s growing up, and Disney needs new paper to print its tween cash on. That’s why they’ve already found Miley Cryus’ successor in 15-year-old Texas Demi Lovato. They’re going to ease Lovato onto the scene with the move Camp Rock — and then the floodgates will be unleashed. Or, as Disney Channel president Gary Marsh says, “Once we find someone, we go all in.” So then will come the music album, an opening act on the Jonas Brothers tour, and endless marketing to make sure she’s a brand name by the time the new school year starts. Disney execs will also be issuing a restraining order against Annie Liebowitz. And while Disney insists it’s not just a chopshop for tween talent, you’d be silly to think otherwise. Lovato’s rise to stardom follows the tried-and-true path of child stars: guest spots that slowly turn into solo vehicles that eventually end up as market behemoths. Oh, and Lovato has one other Miley Cyrus factor: the dad-ager. Her stepfather Eddie De La Garza quit his job at a Ford dealership to become her co-manager (joining the Jonas Bros.’ father Kevin Jonas Sr. to become, along with an agent and a publicist Lovato’s “team”). Before long, he’ll be posing with Lovato’s head in his lap. [WSJ]
Here’s a good idea: Develop a video game to encourage the pedophilic tendencies of the Internet community by challenging them to take naughty photos of 15-year-old Miley Cyrus.
Just a few weeks after the Vanity Fair non-scandal, perhaps now isn’t the best time for Miley Cyrus’ “Got Milk?” ad to hit. But at least dad Billy Ray wasn’t doing something creepy, like licking it off her upper lip.
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Hugh Hefner generously announced today that naked Miley Cyrus would be nakedly “welcomed in [his] magazine” full of naked ladies—when she’s of age, of course. [Us] This isn’t the first time that the doddering coot, or his kin, pulled such a stunt, knowing full well the offer would get a write up in the gossip columns, but that the starlets would never agree. Below, a look back at some of the million dollar deals, made by creepy old men, and Joe Francis, that never were. CONTINUED »
Deal or No Deal, that gimmicky hour of game show bile that employs some trade secret formula to determine how much money to give away to contestants while still raking in the dough from advertisers, is not as popular as it once was. Actually, it’s the least popular it’s ever been! Not even Star Wars-themed episodes can help. CONTINUED »
ELLEgirl (Or is it elleGIRL? Keep forgetting!) is that Hachette Filipacchi tween mag that killed its print version but, in a bout of separation anxiety, insisted on keeping the dot-com alive. It’s also the website that’s asking you to vote for the next Miley Cyrus, that human Disney brand.
Because it’s a PG site, the poll actually asks you to pick among “12 teens who have what it takes to be the next It Girl,” including Haley Joel Osment’s sister Emily (left), iCarly’s Miranda Cosgrove, and Missy Elliot music video breakdancer Alyson Stoner (right, from back then).
But what they’re really asking is: Which rising tween starlet is going to be the next to skank it up for a magazine? It’s going to be a tough call if you haven’t read J-14 lately.
Important magazine people have important things to say about unimportant Miley Cyrus scandal. The New Yorker’s David Remnick: “I think it’s sanctimonious nonsense.” [NYM]
“Hitwise reports today that VanityFair.com traffic spiked by a factor of 20, that searches for the Leibovitz photos doubled the searches for Lindsay Lohan’s for-real topless pics in New York Magazine. Hitwise Director of Research Heather Dougherty says 98% of Vanity Fair’s traffic was comprised of visitors who had never visited the site before.” Just wait till you see the newsstand numbers. [WPN]
And so it has come to this: A spoof of the Miley Cyrus-Vanity Fair photo shoot, starring Annie Liebowitz’s nose and dad Billy Ray Cyrus who gives Joe Simpson a run for his creepiness.
Hmmm, maybe we were wrong in our sarcastic declaration that the Miley Cyrus-Vanity Fair scandal is not, in fact, a worthwhile news story. If it were such a tabloid item, how could it be included in this three-party storyline connecting Barack Obama and the Rev. Jeremiah Wright? [SF Chron]
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Is the Miley Cyrus-Vanity Fair photo scandal actual news? Some websites – us! – would say OMG YES YES YES and refute any notion that we aren’t in the midst of our era’s cultural epicenter, DISCUSSING THE MOST PRESSING ISSUE OF THE DECADE.
Then there are actual news outlets like the NBC Nightly News, the broadcast where Brian Williams practices his comedy routine.
On Monday night, he devoted over two minutes to the scandal, which is like 45,000 words in blog terms. Speaking of blogs, one notes, “That would be embarrassing enough for a news organization purporting to be credible.” (via) By comparison, Wililams’ segment on the Supreme Court’s ruling on voter IDs commanded only about 80 seconds.
More embarrassing? That earlier on Monday, Williams also penned a much-noticed Daily Nightly blog post, criticizing the New York Times for, wait, what was it again? Oh, right: Running puff pieces.
But the biggest part of this controversy? That BriWi chronicler Rachel Sklar hasn’t yet devoted a lengthy column to the topic on Huffington Post. (Update: Sklar is, apparently, out of this office this week.)
Picking up where Slate left behind in the racy Disney marketing photos – newsworthy thanks to Miley Cyrus! – TMZ.com Googles “Shanghai Zhenxin Garments Co. Ltd.,” the Chinese company behind the ads, and puts together a whole gallery of tweens prancing around in naughty lingerie.
Already the Miley Cyrus-Vanity Fair “scandal” has been defused by certain rational arguments, such as, “We see kids younger than Cyrus appear on film wearing fewer clothes and in more sexually compromising situations, and nobody is crying foul there.” But nothing helps combat the idea that Cyrus’s photo shoot is a non-issue like another still photograph — this one also of a Disney brand.
A Disney underwear brand. In China. That can be described as nothing more than a pedophile pinup.
How did something much more scandalous than a photograph of Cyrus’ back get plastered on a billboard? For starters, the age of consent in California might be 18, but in China, where this billboard appeared, it’s a mere 14. CONTINUED »
Rosie O’Donnell: “Leave Miley Cyrus alone,” O’Donnell says in a video posted Monday night. “Disney [is] making her apologize. Ay yi yi. […] Listen, Annie Leibovitz – I had two photo shoots with her. You kind of do what she says. It’s intimidating. I also didn’t think it was a pornographic photo in any capacity. I thought it was sort of a beautiful portrait. […] “I like the one of her and her dad, too. I don’t know. It’s Annie Leibovitz, people.”
Bonnie Fuller: “Does anyone else find it ironic that men in a polygamy cult in Texas are being locked up for sexually exploiting teenage girls while here in medialand, a half-nude photo of 15-year-old Miley Cyrus in Vanity Fair is being touted as art?”
Unless you completely avoid entertainment news about white people or live under a rock, you probably heard about tween queen Miley Cyrus’ Vanity Fair scandal.
• Miley Cyrus and her parents saw an opportunity to boost her profile with a Vanity Fair photo shoot that portrayed her as more than an innocent little girl.
• Vanity Fair saw an opportunity to sell magazines by shooting America’s tween sweetheart as more than an innocent little girl.
They both exploited each other. Neither should apologize. Except for one little thing: that the the photos are, uh, actually quite terrible.
Photographer Annie Leibovitz, responding to criticism over Miley Cyrus’ topless Vanity Fair photoshoot: “I’m sorry that my portrait of Miley has been misinterpreted. Miley and I looked at fashion photographs together, and we discussed the picture in that context before we shot it. The photograph is a simple, classic portrait, shot with very little makeup, and I think it is very beautiful.” [Us]
The Today show didn’t even get around to mentioning it until its second half hour. CONTINUED »
Editorial Director
