• Celebrity
    • Of The Essence
    • Celebrity News
    • If Not For My Girls
    • The State Of R&B
    • Time Of Essence
  • Fashion
    • 2023 Best In Black Fashion Awards
    • 2023 Fashion House
    • Red Carpet
    • Fashion News
    • Accessories
  • Beauty
    • Girls United: Beautiful Possibilities
    • 2023 Best In Black Beauty
    • Skin
    • Makeup
    • Nails
    • Hair
  • Lifestyle
    • Love
    • Parenting
    • Relationships
    • Bridal Bliss
    • Lifestyle News
    • Health & Wellness
    • ESSENCE Eats
    • Travel
    • Food & Drink
  • Entrepreneurship
    • Money & Career
    • SOKO MRKT
  • News
    • Latest News
    • Paint The Polls Black
    • Culture
    • Politics
  • Shopping
    • Essence Holiday Gift Guide 2023
  • Video
  • Events
    • 2023 Fashion House
    • 2023 ESSENCE Festival Of Culture
    • 2023 Wellness House
    • 2023 Black Women In Hollywood
    • 2023 ESSENCE Film Festival
    • 2023 HOLLYWOOD HOUSE
  • Studios
  • Girls United

WHERE BLACK CULTURE, COMMUNITY AND CONSCIOUSNESS MEET

Sign up for ESSENCE Newsletters the keep the Black women at the forefront of conversation.

Your email is required.
Your email is in invalid format.
Confirm email is required.
Email did not match.
Select the newsletters you'd like to receive:
Please select at least one option.
By clicking Subscribe Now, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Skip to content
SUBSCRIBE
  • MAGAZINE
  • NEWSLETTER
  • Celebrity
    • Of The Essence
    • Celebrity News
    • If Not For My Girls
    • The State Of R&B
    • Time Of Essence
  • Fashion
    • 2023 Best In Black Fashion Awards
    • 2023 Fashion House
    • Red Carpet
    • Fashion News
    • Accessories
  • Beauty
    • Girls United: Beautiful Possibilities
    • 2023 Best In Black Beauty
    • Skin
    • Makeup
    • Nails
    • Hair
      • Hair News
      • Natural
      • Relaxed
      • Transitioning
      • Weave
      • 4C
  • Lifestyle
    • Love
    • Parenting
    • Relationships
    • Bridal Bliss
    • Lifestyle News
    • Health & Wellness
    • ESSENCE Eats
    • Travel
    • Food & Drink
  • Entrepreneurship
    • Money & Career
    • SOKO MRKT
  • News
    • Latest News
    • Paint The Polls Black
    • Culture
    • Politics
  • Shopping
    • Essence Holiday Gift Guide 2023
  • Video
  • Events
    • 2023 Fashion House
    • 2023 ESSENCE Festival Of Culture
    • 2023 Wellness House
    • 2023 Black Women In Hollywood
    • 2023 ESSENCE Film Festival
    • 2023 HOLLYWOOD HOUSE
  • Studios
  • Girls United
Home • Culture

Appropriate Then Discard: Miley Cyrus And The Problem With White Stars Adopting Black Culture

An interview and a tweet from both Miley Cyrus and YesJulz reveal the uncomfortable and irresponsible relationship they have with Black culture.
Appropriate Then Discard: Miley Cyrus And The Problem With White Stars Adopting Black Culture
Miley Cyrus
By Danielle Kwateng-Clark · Updated October 26, 2020

There was always something deeply irritating about Miley Cyrus to me.

Post Disney Network reign, the daughter of country music star Billy Ray Cyrus decided — like so many others before her — to transition into the world of pop music. While she produced three albums previously, Bangerz was a departure from her cookie-cutter label to RCA Records where she was “breaking through” and “taking more control” over her image.

4404165240001

I saw the B.S. coming from a mile away.

Having been a child of the ’90s, I’d seen Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera do it before. In a desperate attempt to completely disconnect from their childhood innocence, they embraced hyper-sexual personas ladened with skimpy clothing and obscene lyrics/dance moves. But something about Miley was impeccably disturbing to me.

First of all, having absolutely no connection with the Black community prior to Bangerz, she was all of a sudden singing alongside the likes of French Montana, Three 6 Mafia, Future, Ludacris, and Nelly. Her videos were filled with Black women dancing, she made twerking “mainstream” and was working with Mike WiLL Made-It and Pharrell Williams on records.

Subscribe to our daily newsletter for the latest in hair, beauty, style and celebrity news.

I was disgusted, angered and ready for it to end. And eventually, it did.

She moved on, got back with her ex-fiance Liam Hemsworth, and just this week in an interview with Billboard talked about cleaning up her tarnished image. 

“That’s what pushed me out of the hip-hop scene a little,” she says about graphic lyrics, “It was too much ‘Lamborghini, got my Rolex, got a girl on my cock’ —I am so not that.”

Days after the Billboard article dropped, Miami-based party promoter Julieanna Goddard (aka YesJulz) tweeted a photo of a shirt that said, “Ni**as lie a lot” with the caption “So am I allowed to wear this shirt to the festival tomorrow or naw?”

Accordingly, Black Twitter went ablaze over yet another White woman feeling comfortable enough to say something without the privilege or access to say it.

“It’s so trite that people like YesJulz are still doing stuff like this,” author, Starrene Rhett Rocque told ESSENCE. “With all the social media and access to information out there, she can’t cry ignorance here. She knew better, but let’s cut to the chase, people who do things like this do not care. It’s obvious they don’t care because they keep doing it, never learn from previous examples, and keep offering half-ass apologies for it.”

What followed the YesJulz incident was a string of tweets calling out White “culture vultures,” who use Blackness to push their own agenda. 

 

Kendall and Kylie really did ruin this picture. It looks so much better without them. Look at that black excellence AESTHETIC ✨ pic.twitter.com/hXtG13LBns

— Banana 🍌 (@AnaSofaKingCoo) May 4, 2017

 

 

 

All this talk about Miley Cyrus reminds me of Mark Wahlberg...slum with Blacks cash out and fade back to white. pic.twitter.com/0wO86q8yRD

— Durags&Boatshoes 🎙 (@DuragsBoatshoes) May 5, 2017

 

The Kardashians sporting their BM like accessories, Miley's comments on hip-hop + now YesJulz foolishness...... pic.twitter.com/NGCc2rBosc

— Shelby Ivey Christie (@bronze_bombSHEL) May 5, 2017

“We have to be mindful of the people we push forward,” Deanii Scott, Hot 97 digital producer said. “We (Black people) have the most valuable/profitable voices ever. Everything we say and do is gold. We’ve always had the keys.”

“Let’s protect it and support women/men who love and respect us, instead of opportunists who abuse and blemish our culture.”

COMPANY INFORMATION
  • Our Company
  • Customer Service
  • Essence Ventures
  • Change Your Address
  • Contact Us
  • Job Opportunities
  • Internships
  • Media Kit
  • tag
SUBSCRIBE
  • Newsletters
  • Give a Gift of ESSENCE
  • Magazine Tablet Edition
FOLLOW US
MORE ON ESSENCE
  • Home
  • Love
  • Celebrity
  • Beauty
  • Hair
  • Fashion
  • ESSENCE festival

ESSENCE.com is part of ESSENCE Communications, Inc.

Essence may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.

©2023 ESSENCE Communications Inc. All Rights Reserved. | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | Essence.com Advertising Terms

Get The ESSENCE Newsletter and
Special Offers delivered to your inbox

By clicking Sign Up, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

Get The ESSENCE Magazine
by subscribing below
subscribe now