Miley Cyrus turned in a performance at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards that has everyone talking, and also has thousands of people turning to the young singer’s Twitter page.
After her raunchy performance on stage at the VMAs, Miley saw thousands of new Twitter followers every hour on Monday. After cresting 13 million followers in early August, Miley stood at 13.3 million by Monday afternoon, and was growing at rate of several thousand per hour at one point.
Many are undoubtedly looking for some kind of explanation for Miley’s strange and racy performance at the VMAs. The 20-year-old singer showed up onstage for a duel performance with singer Robin Thicke. As he sang his hit song “Blurred Lines,” Miley gyrated on stage and twerked in front of the much older singer, grinder herself against him. And she did it all wearing nothing but a bra and nude underwear.
The performance led to an immediate backlash , with celebrities and viewers turning to Twitter to express their disgust. Others attacked Miley for her lack of clothing and strange hairstyle (which Buzzfeed compared to Angelica’s doll Cynthia on Rugrats).
Oddly enough, Miley Cyrus had just given an interview defending her lifestyle and admonishing media outlets for claiming she only wants to party.
“People have this misconception of me that I’m just one of these kids on TV and that now I go off and party and I’m just this ratchet white girl, and I’m not,” she told Notion magazine. “I work really, really hard, I’m just in a different environment.”
Leaving the VMAs. No it’s not over. I’m no psychic but congrats @onedirection #songofthesummer
— Miley Ray Cyrus (@MileyCyrus) August 26, 2013
Though she has been gaining scores of Twitter followers after the MTV VMA performance, Miley Cyrus hasn’t spoken much about the incident. She did mention that she was leaving the ceremony early, but didn’t give a reason.