Over the past year Miley Cyrus has distanced herself from her dilettantish affair with hip-hop, putting her twang back on for Younger Now, a forgettable album that’s basically Hannah Montana but grown. Only Cyrus’ aesthetic has changed: She’s not swerving into country but “leaning into her roots,” reconfirming that Mike WiLL was just a phrase. Her understanding of social dymanics also still seems pretty weak.
Today, Cyrus decided to Instagram unrelated pictures of the men of her family: Her siblings Braison and Trace, and her father Billy Ray. This would’ve been an ordinary gesture if it wasn’t for the caption, which is barely coherent (emphasis ours):
Just a few of my favorite WHITE AMERICAN MALES …. I do NOT & refuse to generalize or stereotype! Facts are Facts. You are all correct to believe every human deserves the same respect …. but please keep that in mind when you’re judging others. NOT just with the race , religion , gender , or sexuality which YOU identify with. Deal? ❤️
For starters, the caption comes with the surprising revelation that multi-platinum country recording artist Billy Ray Cyrus is a white American male. That aside, The Cyruses are Good White American Males says what exactly? I’d assume that Miley thinks the men in her family are great because, well, they’re her family, and I’m sure Eric Trump could use the same argument, too. Also in 2017, the good white American males were never the point; it’s always been about the vicious white American males who oppress those who aren’t white American males.
So the sentiment is as sweet and calorie-less as post-racial Smarties. I don’t see myself leaving Midtown, stopping in the middle of a street intersection—arms crossed, head turned upward in bemusement to visualize a sudden epiphany—and going, “You know what? That Miley Cyrus is right: White men can be dandy, too.”
Update 11/7: The Instagram post in question followed two others by Cyrus in which she pled for gun control following Sunday’s mass shooting at a church in Texas, adding in one that “This is a TERRORIST act by a WHITE AMERICAN MAN!” Cyrus’s post about her brother and father was in apparent response to commenters taking umbrage at her emphasizing the shooter’s race and gender. She also edited that post’s caption to add: “(see last post before making your own uninformed assumptions ).”
