Billy Ray Cyrus Declares Miley's Pole Dancing "Art"

Yeah, we still haven't forgotten Miley Cyrus taking the stripper pole for a spin during the Teen Choice Awards. Apparently, neither has her father.

Only, Billy Ray Cyrus doesn't find it quite as appalling as we—and, judging by your comments, you—did. In fact, the proud papa thinks it was downright entertaining.

"You know what? I just think that Miley loves entertaining people," he tells Access Hollywood.

People were entertained all right, but not exactly in the way a 16-year-old's father would necessarily want. Then again, this is the boot-scootin' dad who set up his teenager with a 20-year-old boy.

"I always tell her to love what you're doing and stay focused for the love of the art and not worry so much about opinion," he adds.

Art = pole dancing. Got it.

Miley Cyrus' pole-dancing performance sparks criticism

Who wears short shorts? Miley Cyrus does - and black leather boots, too.

The 16-year-old Disney star, who sold out Nassau Coliseum in 2007 and is in line to do the same for her November show here, took another step along the Britney Spears career track this weekend with a pole-dancing performance at the Teen Choice Awards that some say sent the wrong message to her tween-age fans.

Cyrus, who has been piping up about broadening her appeal, busted out the provocative get-up to sing her song "Party in the USA" for a segment of the teen awards fest taped Sunday and broadcast Monday night on Fox.

Halfway through the song, Cyrus climbed atop an ice cream cart and shimmied alongside a pole protruding from its top. But if you were surprised, offended or shocked by the move, you really shouldn't be, say Miley-watchers - this has been coming for some time.

"She already has this risque image, so it really wasn't much of a stretch," says Us magazine senior editor Ian Drew. "That's how Britney took off. She was the good girl gone bad, and it looks to be working for Miley as well."

Ah, Brits: during the TCAs, Spears joined Cyrus to accept an award - a trophy Cyrus was proud to hand over "because I'm a big fan of hers."

Fox declined to comment further earlier Monday on the appearance, other than to confirm it would be included in the broadcast.

A spokeswoman for Disney, which makes "Hannah Montana," said, "Disney Channel
won't be commenting on that performance, although parents can rest assured that all content presented on the Disney Channel is age-appropriate for our audience - kids 6-14 - and consistent with what our brand values are."

A spokesman for Cyrus' label, Hollywood Records, would not comment.

She is filming an adaptation of the Nicholas Sparks novel "The Last Song," which casts her as a rebellious teen. She appeared in a bustier on the August 2009 cover of Elle. And there were those 2008 Vanity Fair photos, where she was shot topless from behind by Annie Leibovitz.

While the transition to a more adult personage may work to her advantage careerwise, it's a problem for the younger fans who idolize her as "Hannah" - and they are mostly "younger" fans, says West Islip child psychologist Wendi Fischer. "She's sending this message that this is 'OK' to do, and I don't think it is OK to do," she said of Cyrus' sexualized performance. "Miley's only 16.

Why is she rushing it?"

Cyrus won six surfboard-shaped trophies at the TCAs, two for "Hannah" on TV, two for the "Hannah" movie, music single for "The Climb" and summer song for "Before the Storm." The 11th annual TCAs were held at Universal Studios Hollywood's Gibson Amphitheatre.

Is Miley the New Britney–or the Other Way Around?

Hey Answer Bitch, is Miley really the new Britney? Not so sure.—Jefry

I assume you're referring at Miley Cyrus' stripper-pole action at the Teen Choice Awards? Which hearkened vaguely to Britney Spears' stripper-pole action in...well, where do I start? Full disclosure: I could not look directly at the Miley stripper-pole performance for fear of turning to stone, but descriptions from reliable sources indicate that stripper-pole interaction did occur.

Where are these comparisons coming from? Mostly Miley, it seems. But does all this necessarily mean Cyrus is doomed to a future of albino snakes and barefoot trips to the Porta Potti? Well...
Let's take a look at the similarities.

Both have dads who live quite well thanks to their daughters' massive bank accounts and tiny wardrobes. Both performers have strategically tapped into their sweet polka-dotted Southern roots as a way to sell themselves to mainstream audiences. Both have toyed with Lolita-like sexuality, though Britney took credit and responsibility for it, while Miley distanced herself after the fact.

Both have sprouted fully formed out of heads of Disney executives—Spears through the new Mickey Mouse Club and Cyrus via Hannah Montana.

But that may be where the similarities end. In fact, marketing and teen trending experts tell me that by comparing the 16-year-old Cyrus to the 27-year-old Spears, you may actually be levying an insult. At Miley.

"Unlike Britney, Miley Cyrus has a beloved character to fall back on—Hannah Montana," says Megan Bannon, cultural anthropologist at market research agency Rapp Collins Worldwide. "When we analyzed over 6,500 online social mentions of Miley Cyrus posted in the last month, we see that she is very closely associated with Hannah Montana."

In a good way.

According to a popularity measuring tool called the Davie Brown Index (DBI), "Miley is viewed as significantly more trustworthy than Britney within the general population," Davie Brown's Matt Delzell tells me. "I think that speaks highly of Miley, considering Britney is older and is a mother, both factors which tend to increase trust levels."

Plus, Britney was essentially just getting started when she was in her teens. Miley?

"Cyrus, with her music and TV shows and movies, is something Britney Spears never was at that stage of her career: a multimedia superstar with a multigenerational appeal," says branding pro Don Tanner, author of No Static at All.

So the real question is, even though she's a decade older, can Britney ever dream of being the next Miley Cyrus?

At The End Miley's Fan Were Dissapointed with what she did at the Teen Choice Awards, "her actions made her look like a stripper doing pole dance" that was quote made bt one of her fan