Thursday, February 5, 2009

Miley Cyrus "Goofy Face" Photo Taken Out Of Context

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Disney teen idol Miley Cyrus has said she was making a goofy face when she made slant-eye poses in a personal photograph with friends, and was not making fun of Asians.

Cyrus, 16, was responding on Thursday to demands from an Asian-American group that she apologize for the snapshot which surfaced on the Internet this week, and in a blog posted on her official Web site, she said she's becoming a media target.

The OCA, a national organization that promotes the welfare of Asian Pacific Americans, had accused Cyrus of taunting and mocking Asians when she and a group of friends pulled their eyes sideways in a photo. One of the group was Asian.

"In NO way was I making fun of any ethnicity! I was simply making a goofy face. When did that become newsworthy?," Cyrus said in a blog posting at www.mileyworld.com.


She said she was sorry if people "looked at those pics and took them wrong and out of context" but she did not apologize.

"It seems someone is trying to make something out of nothing to me. If that would of been anyone else, it would of been overlooked! I definitely feel like the press is trying to make me out as the new 'BAD GIRL'!"

Cyrus, best known as the star of the Disney Channel show "Hannah Montana", said she felt that the media was focusing on her since pop star Britney Spears had turned her life around.

"I feel like now that Britney (Spears) is back on top of her game again, they need someone to pick on! Lucky me!," Cyrus said.

Cyrus, one of the biggest teen idols in the world, apologized to fans last year for a Vanity Fair photo shoot which showed her apparently wearing little but a satin bedsheet. She also came under fire in 2008 for personal pictures showing her in her underwear.

(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)

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