Miley Cyrus - the new bad girl?

**Originally posted February 9, 2009**

Yesterday I posted about the Michael Phelps "scandal" and how he had stepped up and released a statement in which he took full responsibility for his actions in a photo leaked showing him participating in some questionable behavior.

Today, the opposite end of the celebrity apology spectrum…Miley Cyrus…(and yes I will admit I am a Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus fan)….over the past week or so, Miley Cyrus has been at the centre of her own photo scandal. She was photographed hanging out with some friends…in the pictures that were leaked she and her friends are shown making what have been called racist and offensive by many people, including the Organization of Chinese Americans.

After these pictures were released and the outrage began, Cyrus issued a statement on her blog (its under News) stating

“Ive (sic) also been told there are some people upset about some pictures taken of me with friends making goofy faces! Well, Im sorry if those people looked at those pics and took them wrong and out of context!In NO way was I making fun of any ethnicity! I was simply making a goofyface. When did that become newsworthy? It seems someone is trying to make something out of nothing to me. If that would of been anyone else, it would of been overlooked! I definitely feel like the press is trying to make me out as the new ‘BAD GIRL’!”.

Shortly after this was posted, George Wu, Executive Director of the OCA released a statement saying

“The picture is offensive and now this statement is inadequate…That’s not enough. It’s not a real apology. We’re not backing down without a fuller apology”.

Despite being a fan of her and her music, I have to agree with the OCA’s statement. Whether or not, it was her intention to offend people, that is exactly what she has done…and nowhere in her statement did she make a wholehearted apology.

While she did “apologize” for people taking the photos out of context, and while she and her friends may have assumed that the photos would never actually be leaked, she is still at fault. She really should step up and make a real apology and I for one have to ask, where was her publicist or manager or hell even her parents? Someone should really be supervising (for lack of a better word right now) her in making a statement in relation to this situation. This whole thing was handled poorly and it’s just one more thing on the list of Miley Cyrus scandals.

It’s not the first and it more than likely will not be last.