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Miley Cyrus Apologizes for Past Comments About Hip-Hop: “I Fucked Up”

US singer Miley Cyrus arrives for the Saint Laurent Men's Spring-Summer 2020 runway show in Malibu, California, on June 6, 2019. (Photo by Kyle GRILLOT / AFP) (Photo credit should read KYLE GRILLOT/AFP/Getty Images)

Miley Cyrus has issued another response to accusations of racial insensitivity and cultural appropriation. This time, it came in the form of a comment on a fan YouTube video entitled “Miley Cyrus Is My Problematic Fav…Sorry.” The half-hour vlog, posted by user As Told By Kenya (Kenya Wilson), is largely a defense of Cyrus and her career. In addition to complimenting some of her music and pointing out artists who have appropriated Black culture in more sustained ways than Cyrus, Wilson praises Cyrus for having the sensitivity to apologize for the notorious comments she made in a Billboard interview in 2017, while addressing her transition away from her Bangerz-era obsession with trap music and hip-hop culture.

In that interview, Cyrus explained that her musical preferences had moved away from the hip-hop zeitgeist after praising Kendrick Lamar’s “HUMBLE.”

“I love that because it’s not, ‘Come sit on my dick, suck on my cock.’ I can’t listen to that anymore,” she explained. “That’s what pushed me out of the hip-hop scene a little. It was too much ‘Lamborghini, got my Rolex, got a girl on my cock’ — I am so not that.” Other comments in the piece indicated that she had viewed adopting elements of Black culture—twerking, specifically—as a stylistic posture that she never intended to stick to. An Instagram apology came soon afterward.

Kenya Wilson’s video acknowledges that those comments were destructive and that Cyrus engaged in “cultural appropriation” at several points in the video. “It was bad, it was racially insensitive, it had racist undertones, and it wasn’t OK,” she argues. Cyrus responded in the comments:

Just watched your video. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to speak up. Being silent is not like me at all. I am aware of my platform and have always used it the best way I know how and to shine a light on injustice. I want to start with saying I am sorry. I own the fact that saying … “this pushed me out of the hip hop scene a little” was insensitive as it is a privilege to have the ability to dip in and out of “the scene”. There are decades of inequality that I am aware of, but still have alot learn about. Silence is apart of the problem and I refuse to be quiet anymore. My words became a divider in a time where togetherness and unity is crucial . I can not change what I said at that time , but I can say I am deeply sorry for the disconnect my words caused. Simply said ; i fucked up and I sincerely apologize . I’m committed to using my voice for healing , change , and standing up for what’s right. Miley

Cyrus recently released the She Is Coming EP, which indicates a modest return to making hip-hop-influenced music. Cyrus also specified in a Vanity Fair earlier this year that Donald Trump had called her to positively remark on her twerking during her 2013 VMAs performance, which came during the height of her Bangerz period. She’s also in a new Black Mirror episode singing rewritten Nine Inch Nails songs. Watch the As Told By Kenya video below.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=6fCUOtGNViY