Miley Cyrus Just Hijacked The MTV VMAs To Draw Attention To Youth Homelessness

If last year was the year we all left the VMAs chattering mindlessly about all the worst things Miley Cyrus did — with the body shaming and slut shaming drowning out a fairly interesting conversation about racial appropriation — this year she decided to provide a talking point for good, and not evil.

The big prize of each Video Music Awards night is ‘Video Of The Year’ — a category Miley Cyrus shared this year with Iggy Azalea (‘Fancy’), Beyonce (‘Drunk In Love’), Pharrell (‘Happy’), and Sia (‘Chandelier’).

The winner, announced Jimmy Fallon, was Miley Cyrus for ‘Wrecking Ball’ — and by proxy, its interminable creep of a director, Terry Richardson.

Thankfully, Cyrus didn’t bring a sexual predator on stage to accept the award; instead, she sent a handsome young man as her proxy, who took the microphone from Fallon.

“My name is Jesse, and I am accepting the world on behalf of the 1.6 million runaways and homeless youth in the United States, who are starving, lost and scared for their lives right now. I know this because I’m one of these people.

“I’ve survived in shelters all over the city, I’ve cleaned your hotel rooms, I’ve been an extra in your movies, I’ve been an extra in your life. Though I may have been invisible to you on the streets, I have a lot of the same dreams that brought many of you here tonight.”

The camera cut back to Cyrus, who was wiping a whole bunch of tears from her face.

“Los Angeles’ entertainment capital has the largest population of homeless youth in America,” Jesse continued. “The music industry will make over $7 billion this year, and outside these doors are 54,000 human beings who have no place to call home.

“If you want to make a powerful change in the world right now, please join us and go to Miley’s Facebook page. A dream you dream alone is only a dream, but a dream you dream together is reality. Thankyou so much for your time.”

At the same time, Miley Cyrus’ Facebook page uploaded a video launching her new campaign to end youth homelessness, and raise money for My Friend’s Place — a homeless shelter for young people in Hollywood.

It was, to be sure, the nicest thing that could have come out of the announcement, which essentially saw Richardson — who has a ballooning series of sexual harassment allegations against his name — join an alumni that includes Spike Jonze and David Fincher, by winning the top award of the night.

So: Miley gets at least a couple points for that.