Several high-profile stars have been banned from performing in the country in recent years, and she is no exception.
Miley Cyrus, who is well-known for her newsworthy antics and contentious statements, is once again at the heart of a storm. The singer and actress, who frequently challenges public opinion, has been denied entry to China as a result of a picture that caused enormous controversy.
Cyrus has frequently courted controversy throughout her career since she has never shied away from making edgy claims and embracing her outspoken persona. The artist has succeeded in keeping the public’s interest time and time again with her daring on-stage acts and high-profile romances. Critics carefully watched her every move, ready to seize on any perceived slip-up while her followers anxiously anticipated her next move.
Since becoming a household name on the Disney Channel as the endearing Hannah Montana, Cyrus has made a concerted effort to shed her innocent image and establish herself as an independent and experienced artist. Nevertheless, her attempts to free her Disney identity have frequently drawn criticism and pushed the boundaries of social acceptance.
When Cyrus was just 15 years old, she participated in a controversial photo session with Vanity Fair and posed topless with only a sheet to cover herself. Because of the controversy the shoot caused among her fan base, Cyrus herself issued a formal apology. However, a decade later, she retracted her prior apology, writing furiously, “IM NOT SORRY,” reviving the long-buried topic.
With time, Cyrus grew further away from her Disney beginnings and adopted a more defiant and mature persona. Her controversial pole dance during her performance at the 2009 Teen Choice Awards, which marked the culmination of her makeover, made it clear that she had lost her Hannah Montana persona.
The singer publicly chastised Disney for stereotyping her, lamenting the company’s assumptions about what a pop star should be like and behave like, saying, “From the time I was 11, it was, ‘You’re a pop star! That means you have to be blonde, and you have to have long hair, and you have to put on some glittery tight thing.’”
2013 saw Cyrus garner media attention once more for her controversial performance at the MTV Video Music Awards when she provocatively twerked alongside Robin Thicke. The media frenzy and innumerable memes further cemented her new reputation as a boundary-pushing artist eager to defy social standards the performance sparked.
With that, it might not be entirely surprising that Cyrus has now been banned from entering China, given her history of making headlines. Celebrities who have engaged in provocative or politically sensitive behavior have historically been denied entrance into the nation.
In the instance of Cyrus, it was an offending image rather than her exposing clothing or explicit behavior that caused her removal from China. In the divisive photo, Cyrus and many of her white companions were seen standing with an Asian man and slanting their eyes in a stereotypical way, feeding negative preconceptions.
Cyrus apologized on her website after the subsequent uproar in public and acknowledged the unintended hurt her actions had created. China, however, stood firm in its decision to forbid the pop artist, demonstrating the nation’s dedication to protecting social peace and cultural sensitivity.
While Cyrus’s supporters and detractors continue to argue over the harshness of the sentence, one thing is certain: her provocative activities have once again placed her in the middle of a scandal, forcing her to deal with the fallout from her controversial decisions.