14 DAY TRIAL // Although she’s repeatedly said that the last thing she wanted was to be considered a role model and be put up on a pedestal, which would literally mean she wouldn’t be able to make mistakes and ultimately learn from them, it’s Miley Cyrus’ own fans who disagree with her. In a poll conducted by AOL’s JSYK.com (Just So You Know), Miley took 42 percent of all votes for the worst celebrity influence of the year, Reuters informs.
By doing so, the young Disney star pushed the likes of Britney Spears, who was once the epitome of a bad role model in her pre-comeback “glory” days, and Kanye West, who continues to face the harsh backlash for his behavior towards Taylor Swift at the 2009 VMAs, from the top position. What’s strange about the poll is that it was conducted by a website that targeted specifically 9-15-year-olds, meaning just the segment of the public that should have been supportive of Cyrus.
“No reasons were given for the poor showing of the singer-actress and the popular star of Disney Channel’s ‘Hannah Montana’ television series. But the ranking follows a year which has seen Cyrus controversially dating a 20 year-old model, making ‘slant eyes’ in an informal snapshot criticized as mocking Asians, and being accused of pole-dancing on a teen awards show.” Reuters says of the results of the online poll.
Cyrus also dropped a few places in the favorite female artist category, with country cutie Taylor Swift, cheeky Katy Perry and excellent performer Beyonce swooping past her in the competition. Another interesting aspect about the results of the online poll is that about 50,000 teens took part in it, which means this is clearly not an isolated case when only a handful of people choose to believe that Miley might be somewhat of a bad influence for her young fans, it is being said.
“I think Miley is in an interesting space where she is trying to graduate from being ‘Hannah Montana’ and a Disney channel celebrity and coming into her own and having a career beyond Disney. I think her fans still want her to be the sweet Hannah Montana and she is trying to age up... Parents are definitely resisting it.” Stephanie Cohen, editor of JSYK.com, tells Reuters about why Miley scored so poorly in the poll. Oppositely, “Taylor Swift has done a great job of showing her true self and coming across as very sweet and down to earth. A lot of her songs are about the underdog and teens can really relate to her.” Cohen further explains.