Miley Fires Back at Joe Jonas

A Miley Cyrus interview is never dull. And hey! There's another one to be had. This time, Cyrus speaks to The New York Times about her image, Joe Jonas and more. Though she didn't get the publication's name tattooed on her feet, the NYT piece is totally worth a read. For every "uh oh" moment, she says something REAL. And I dig it when someone gets real. But those real statements didn't cancel out the "uh oh" moments. The "uh oh" moments remain "uh oh" moments. Because that's how words work.

What's the main takeaway of the 'terview? Cyrus is going to keep "just bein' Miley," so to speak. She's not apologizing for the VMAs, the twerking, the tongue move, the backup dancers, et cetera, et cetera. Which... ennngh. ENNNNGH. As smart as she is (and I do think she's very smart), Cyrus says and does some iffy/dumb shit. We all do. I get that. But she's famous, so her iffy/dumb shit is magnified. I'm a big fan of Cyrus, but even I find myself clenching my jaw nervously when I read some of the stuff she says. Because it's... ennnngh.

But like I said, the interview also had it's non-"ennnngh" moments. Here are some of the quotes (both bad and good) that caught my eye:

UH OH UH OH UH OH:

Because I’m like: “How do I win? If I have white dancers, then I’m racist. If I have black girl dancers, then I’m racist.” We know we’re not racist, and I know I’m not putting down women.

As people have brought these things up to you over the last year, has it changed your personal thinking about race?

No, I never let that change me. My grandma, who is alive, was living in a time where there was no way in hell that she would’ve ever thought there would’ve been a black president. I mean, never. And my grandma’s like, not even 80, so this is in a short period of time that things have changed so much. I really thought about it a lot when Nelson Mandela passed away, because I couldn’t even imagine living this life and seeing how much it’s changed. So, you know, I look forward to when I’m older, my kids being like, “What do you mean people ever even talked about what color your dancers were?”

I'm just… going to leave that one here. ENNNNGH.

Regarding feminism:

People got a rise out of me saying that I was a feminist, but I am. I’m telling women be whoever you want to be.

I dig the sentiment.

Regarding Her image:

You don’t have to be signed to Disney Channel to be put in a box, or to be rated PG. I’m with artists sometimes, and I’ll take a picture of them or whatever. They make me delete it. ... Yeah, it’s insane. I’ll get someone to, like, flash me, and they’ll be, like, “You have to delete it!” I had to do that when I was 14 or 15, but even then I didn’t care. Like, if someone was videoing me ripping a bong, I didn’t care, so it’s just funny to me. I’m like: “Dude, you’re 30. Like, why can’t someone see a picture of your [breasts]?”

I don’t have a bunch of celeb friends, because I feel like some of them are a little scared of the association. This is terrible. I was backstage with [the rising pop star] Ariana Grande. I’m like, “Walk out with me right now and get this picture, and this will be the best thing that happens to you, because just you associating with me makes you a little less sweet.”

It’s less A-line dress.

Exactly. She’s trying. I see her wearing the shorter things. She comes in, and she goes, “This made me feel like you.” And I’m like, “That was like my sixth grade prom dress.” She’s, I think, still on Nickelodeon. She has people that she has to kind of respect.

Okay. This grabs my attention. Firstly, I love hearing about behind-the-scenes convos between celebs. Makes me feel "in the know" for a hot second. Second, Grande and Cyrus being pals is so fun. I interpreted that to mean that they're pals, anyway. That interaction reminds me of the time a friend and I went shopping and she said, "you should wear a color other than black." I bought a few grey tops. It was a small step. She thought it was hilarious. Same situation, yes? Oof. I digress. And finally, the "maintaining a persona" element of being a celebrity stresses me out. It feels like a fourth wall break any time a celeb addresses it though, so I'm FEELING this part of the interview.

Regarding Smoking with Joe Jonas:

If you want to smoke weed, you’re going to smoke weed. There’s nothing that two little girls are going to get you to do that you don’t want to do. I thought maybe he was saying that like it was going to make him look badass.

And:

We were so young that it’s actually like, “How did you get peer pressured by me?”

This is the funniest. FIRING BACK at Jonas's accusations!

They also talk drugs, the VMAs, Kurt Cobain, and Vogue. It's a lot. But I enjoyed it, okay?!?! If anything, I'm glad the interview happened because of that Joe Jonas call out. That alone makes the entire piece worth it.