Miley Cyrus says that her teenage pole dancing performance at the 2009 Teen Choice Awards was all her mom Tish Cyrus‘ idea.
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The incident — that became one of Miley Cyrus’ first controversial onstage moments — went down at the 2009 Teen Choice Awards held at Gibson Amphitheatre on August 9, 2009 in Universal City, California.
While performing for the first time at the event, a 17-year-old Miley Cyrus, dressed in lower calf-length high-heel boots with short black jean shorts and a sleeveless shirt, infamously danced atop an ice cream cart that, “Miley’s Ice Cream,” and had a pole on it that she hugged.
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Miley first opened up about the controversial performance in September 2023, during her “Used To Be Young” series on her YouTube and TikTok. At the time, she admitted that the pole was purposely used in her performance for “stability.” She said, “I had cut ‘Party in the U.S.A.’ and I was doing my first performance for the Teen Choice Awards. My mom was like, ‘I think it’d be really cool if she was in the trailer park, ’cause that’s where we really do come from.’”
She added, “So, apparently, me dancing on an ice cream cart with a stripper pole, but it wasn’t a stripper pole, it was actually just for stability. I had a heel on! Like, what did you want from me? Was I really gonna do my performance without dancing on top of an ice cream cart?” Looking back at the performance in general, Miley noted, “That performance was amazing. My pitch was, honestly, a little off and the hat needed to go.”
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During a conversation with her sister, actress and DJ Brandi Cyrus, on Spotify’s ‘Billion Club’ series, Miley Cyrus recalled her controversial performance of “Party in the U.S.A.” at the 2009 Teen Choice Awards. During the Spotify series, Brandi asked her Miley Cyrus how she felt about the controversy over her teenage pole-involved performance. Miley told her sister, “This is going to be no surprise to you. Do you know whose idea that was?”
Brandi immediately replied to Miley with the correct answer: their mother, Tish Cyrus. Miley said, “Yup, that was my mom’s idea. So, she always lets me take the blame,” she continued, “When I got in trouble the next day, you know who was nowhere to be found? Tish Cyrus.”
Miley Cyrus also said that while everyone was caught up the moment with her dancing while holding a pole, she said, “But, the thing that I remember most about that performance was it was the first time I ever wore real diamond jewelry on stage. So, you guys remember a little ice cream truck. I remember the diamonds.”
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