Noah Cyrus, Miley’s younger sister who was just nominated for “Best New Artist” by the 63rd Grammys Awards, is coming under fire for posting a racially-charged Instagram story.
On Wednesday afternoon, Cyrus posted a picture of the Harry Styles Vogue cover shoot in which he’s wearing a dress. Next to Styles, Cyrus wrote in small letters: “he wears this dress better than any of u nappy ass heauxz.” The term “n*ppy” has been historically used to disparage Black people’s hair and is widely considered to be offensive when used by non-Black people.
Just peacefully scrolling & here goes Noah Cyrus calling us porch monkeys unprovoked https://t.co/qPYRt9STJM
— yardie 🇯🇲 (@lannadelnegro) December 3, 2020
Many likened the post to Cyrus using the (other) n-word or calling Black people “monkeys.” On top of that, Black celebrities including Jaden Smith and Tyler, the Creator have worn dresses publicly long before Styles did. Some believe that Cyrus was implying that none of them had rocked the feminine style as hard as the former One-Direction heartthrob; others thought she was directly mocking Candace Owens, who lamented the “death” of manly men after Vogue released its most recent issue.
Noah’s older sister, Miley, has had a tumultuous relationship to the Black community. In 2013, she infamously brought twerking into the white mainstream at the VMAs and wore styles considered culturally Black during her unfortunate but brief ‘Bangerz’ era.