Give Miley Cyrus some credit for her VMA appearance this year.

[Are_grits_groceries]

LOS ANGELES — For a second year in a row, Miley Cyrus hijacked MTV’s Video Music Awards on Sunday night, and this time she did it without debauched dance moves or wild tongue gyrations. In fact, she did not even take the stage.

Instead, the rowdy pop star sent a 22-year-old homeless man in her place – a 180-degree turn toward a serious cause and away from the frothy, twerking performance she offered last year that ignited a global media firestorm.

Near the end of Sunday’s live show, at the Forum in Inglewood, Calif., when Jimmy Fallon announced that Ms. Cyrus’s “Wrecking Ball” had won video of the year, a longhaired man who said he was from Oregon and had recently been living on the streets of Hollywood appeared at the microphone. “My name is Jesse,” the young man said, reading from notes without mentioning his surname. “I am accepting this award on behalf of the 1.6 million runaways and homeless youth in the United States who are starving and lost and scared for their lives. I know, because I am one of those people.”

Miley Cyrus, right, and Jesse, the homeless man from Oregon who accepted her award for video of the year for "Wrecking Ball" at the MTV Video Music Awards on Sunday. Credit Amanda Decadenet
“I have survived in shelters all over this city,” he continued, before attempting to shame the music industry with a speech. “The music industry will make over $7 billion this year, and outside these doors are 54,000 human beings who have no place to call home.” (Los Angeles County estimates that it has a homeless population of roughly 54,000.)
<snip>
http://nyti.ms/1mGlYkG

And yes this could be just for good publicity. The proof will be whether she follows up with more efforts to help.
However, it will help some and bring attention to a crisis that needs addressing.

[Rose Siding]

1. Excellent. Her motives don't concern me.

Celebrity used to highlight inequality is laudable.

[Fred Sanders]

2. Publicity stunt. Guilt trip? Motives matter.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

11. She challenged her own industry

That's more than anyone I can think of has done. In their face.

Now back her up and write or donate or tweet.

[frazzled]

3. Meh

Did she donate all the proceeds of Wrecking Ball or her future concerts to aid the homeless? Or did she just ask YOU to donate something? Why did she have a Hollywood-handsome former homeless person and not an ugly, fat, or old one?

There are lots of questions to ask.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

16. She came at the industry with a young man as "stunt"

Even smarter than Brando's Native American for The Godfather. Homelessness is a national disgrace in a land of so much - disgrace.

Plus, she must have got him clearance from producers to make the speech. So some in the industry may have a heart.

[NuclearDem]

17. Congratulations, here's your Purity Olympics gold medal.

Now can the rest of us appreciate the fact that she's actually doing something to bring awareness to the problem without trying to find something sinister about it?

[frazzled]

29. I still say "meh"

Miley Cyrus bringing a cute ex-homeless guy to the VMAs does for homelessness what a Miss America contestant's response of "world peace" does for ... world peace. Which is to say, not much.

[Iron Man]

38. You're exactly right.

[NuclearDem]

40. And anonymous internet shitting on people who do good

does for homelessness what anonymous internet shitting on people who do good for any cause.

That is, jack shit.

[RockaFowler]

4. I'm glad she used her celebrity for something good

She brought teen homelessness to the attention of a ton of people last night. I applaud her for that

[Autumn]

5. I really like this young woman. It's admirable that she does what she want to do.

It seems she doesn't have a need to have other peoples approval. Kudos to her, she shows a lot of class in this.

[PeaceNikki]

12. I totally agree. Good on her.

She's a compassionate, strong, independent, sexually liberated woman.

[lovemydog]

48. Agree. I like a lot of her music too.

[me b zola]

15. I like her too

I'm not really into her music, but I like her spunk. I was an outrageous young woman like Miley, and thats not a bad thing.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

6. Best Robin Williams tribute she could give.

Wonder if she knew that . . .

[riqster]

7. Motives be damned. It was a good thing to do.

I was once homeless, and applaud Ms. Cyrus and Jesse for sticking this issue in America's collective face.

[leftyladyfrommo]

8. I don't like her raunchy style but

I am getting more and more respect for her as a smart, caring operator.

She also gives a ton of money to charities - like millions of dollars.

Some day she will realize that all that raunchy sex on stage stuff has been done before, over and over. Really, it's been done to death. She is talented enough and smart enough to do better.

You go girl!

[Saboburns]

26. She does that raunchy stuff so we talk about her, which furthers her career

She knows she not pretty enough, nor sings well enough, nor dances good enough to be a star. So she plays this role, which gets her on the front page, and that furthers her career.

Pretty damn shrewd if you ask me.

[Are_grits_groceries]

9. For those of you who still dump on her,

here is one article about her charitable work:

Despite all her crazy and scandalous antics, and along with getting engaged to Liam Hemsworth, Cyrus has had quite the charitable year. She spent her 20th birthday promoting Saving Spot! Rescue, a non-profit organization that is dedicated to finding homes for dogs in shelters with high rates of euthanasia. Additionally, Cyrus participated in 2012's TOMS’ One Day Without Shoes challenge and has worked toward the benefit of Save The Music Foundation, the Starkey Hearing Foundation, and the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

http://www.hollywood.com/news/celebrities/46926260/taylor-swift-miley-cyrus-named-most-charitable-celebs-they-donated-how-much?page=all

If you check other articles, she has different ranks. However, she does spend her money on good causes. So no, she doesn't declare that all her proceeds from X or Y will go to some organization, but she doesn't hoard her money either.

It's funny. There were loads of people on DU last year who couldn't say enough bad things about her and her regrettable performance. This year they can't even summon one good word for her?

[LloydS of New London]

10. Uh, no

[Fred Sanders]

14. She is still twerking, just using a bum of a different kind to get publicity.

Can I twitter that?
Dibs.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

19. If I said what you said, the Jury would hide it. N/t

[Fred Sanders]

20. Satire is lost on the wicked.

"Miley Cyrus is still twerking her way to publicity, just using a different kind of bum"?

Dibs.

[alp227]

47. That post is as mild as something you'd hear on Jay Leno. nt

[Jefferson23]

13. Bringing attention to the problem is an admiral thing to do, period. n/t

[msanthrope]

33. Aye, matey! nt

[Jefferson23]

34. How this was presented through the gentleman was impressive too..I imagine the audience

was caught off guard, which I also like.

[NuclearDem]

18. Good on her.

And frankly, I couldn't care less why.

[Iron Man]

21. How much of her fortune has she given away to the homeless?

[IdaBriggs]

22. Please clarify what percentage she has to give before you consider it adequate.

Does she have to give away 10% of her income? 20%? 50%? Does it have to be from all of her earnings over time, or just this year? Is it a flat fee - say, "one million dollars, then the celebrity can try to draw attention to the plight of the homeless?" Or can she have an opinion about a humanitarian crisis for the low sum of maybe $20? Or is it not valid to you if it is less than a hundred thousand? Or a million?

What does your question have to do with her foregoing a public appearance that would have been photographed, displayed in magazines, discussed on twitter and other social media, and thus generated a great deal of attention FOR HER which would have helped her sell more music, and instead, use the opportunity to generate attention for A CAUSE instead of A PRODUCT, which is presumably important to the young man who is currently homeless?

54,000 homeless people in the city where the pretty people dress up and applaud each other for their skill in creating entertainment. The idea that those same people might be able to help creatively solve the problem of scared, hungry, unsafe people living in the streets - well, it wasn't the conversation anyone expected, was it?

Your comment, implying the artist should not be drawing attention to the situation unless she herself pays "an opinion tax" which can be sneered at by you regardless of the dollar figure, is designed to minimize a good deed. I find it offensive.

Is she doing "enough"? Are *any* of us? She appears to have done more than most just by bringing the issue up for discussion, and I will applaud the courage of this young woman for setting compassion for others ahead of the expected avarice which is now considered socially acceptable behavior.

Three cheers for her.

Oh, and welcome to DU.

[Iron Man]

23. If she donated nothing, which i suspect, then it's still about her.

People are talking about her, even though she wasn't there.

It's just a different publicity stunt by her.

I prefer to listen to people who lead by example.

[IdaBriggs]

25. Ah, so if she donated one dollar, you would admire and respect her?

You never answered my question:

How much before she has paid your "Right to Have An Opinion Tax?"

"I'm just getting started," said Cyrus in a statement, "and I want to make sure my fans are part of helping me to give back and make an impact on this issue — we all have the power to make change happen.”

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/miley-vmas-spotlight-homeless-youth-article-1.1915667#ixzz3BQWPzjua

[Iron Man]

27. I don't care about what she said.

It's about what she does. It would take more than her donating $1 for me to find her actions admirable.

Donating nothing while asking the rest of us to donate is hypocritical.

Wouldn't you agree?

[Are_grits_groceries]

30. See post #9 about her charitable work.

She does use some of her money for the good of others.
Maybe that will meet your approval.

[Iron Man]

37. Post #9 has two flaws.

1. It's from a gossip site.
2. It mentions nothing about her spending any money.

[peabody]

31. No I would not agree.

Just bringing attention to the issue is something she can do better than you or me, and maybe even have a bigger impact on the issue than I would have if I gave my own money.

[spanone]

46. no. she's donating her spot on national teevee. her time. her reputation.

and getting the message out to millions. i would not agree.

[IdaBriggs]

49. So put a dollar figure on it - a very Republican point of view.

$$ = Free Speech?

Five seconds of googling proves she has donated everything from clothes to cash.

But she is a powerful young female celebrity who is actually influencing the culture and the discussion, so scorning her actions is safe for some.

Haters gonna hate.

[Tree-Hugger]

56. Hey you

[NuclearDem]

41. I don't know. How much have you?

[Iron Man]

42. This isn't about me.

[NuclearDem]

43. Well, from what I can see

Miley Cyrus is creating awareness of the homelessness problem...while you're just complaining about that on the internet.

So, it's generally good to know that this isn't just concern trolling and you actually care about the homelessness problem.

[IdaBriggs]

50. Actually, it is. Show us your charitable receipts

And we can decide if your opinion is worth listening to.

[Feral Child]

55. Oh, I think it is.

Clemens wrote one of his best articles about altruism. You should read it, it's humbling.

[treestar]

24. LOL

The Universe is back in balance.

[NaturalHigh]

28. Good for her.

[bhikkhu]

32. A young woman with a brain and a heart

that's one of the classier things I've seen from a celebrity. I wonder if it was, in some way, inspired by Robin William's passing?

[steve2470]

35. Good for her, don't care what her deepest motives were

She could have done the usual "oh thank you everyone including my dog" speech, but she did this. Good for you, Miley.

[wyldwolf]

36. Several Disney/Nic starlets are working for social change

Selena Gomez:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selena_Gomez#Philanthropy

Demi Lovato:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demi_Lovato#Philanthropy
http://www.eonline.com/news/567585/demi-lovato-gets-feminism-right-see-the-celebs-that-have-gotten-it-all-wrong

Bridgit Mendler

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridgit_Mendler#Philanthropy

[onenote]

39. Can't believe how harsh some people are about Miley's "stunt"

I'm not a Miley Cyrus fan and yes what she did was a "stunt." But it was a stunt for a good cause (as opposed to stunts at previous VMA awards by the likes of Howard Stern and others).

I don't remember Robin Williams, Whoopi Goldberg, or Billy Crystal being taken to task for how much of their "fortunes" they dontated to Comic Relief.

[Skittles]

44. I am giving her points

thank you Ms. Cyrus

[spanone]

45. hooray for miley....

[hexola]

51. She's a WORLD above Justin Beiber!

Not sure her schtick is up my alley - but I've been impressed with her post Hanna-Montana success.

Even if it was just for publicity - its still a more professional classy moment than anything Justin Beibers done recently.

[Gothmog]

52. This was a great move by Ms. Cyrus

She showed some maturity here and I applaud her actions

[LittleBlue]

53. People misjudged Miley

and now they want to read ulterior motives into this.

She has never, to my knowledge, shown herself to be anything but a nice person. Respect to her.

[KamaAina]

54. Beats the hell out of twerking.