The Brits are known for their dry sense of humor, and boyband One Direction are no exception. At the U.S. premiere of their new movie "This Is Us!," our favorite male pop ensemble joked about their reactions to the VMAs perfomance that everyone has been talking about.
A gif of the boys sitting in the audience alongside Rihanna has gone viral around the web, showing the boys barely able to contain their laughter or, if you're like Harry Styles, casually munching on an orange snack as Miley Cyrus gyrated on-stage with Robin Thicke during a mash-up of "We Can't Stop" and "Blurred Lines."
So how did Zayn, Liam, Harry, Louis and Niall feel about the star's bizarre on-stage antics?
"It was very reserved," Harry Styles told Yahoo! News. "I think she's quite shy and it's about time she came out of her shell a bit."
"We were shocked by how much coverage there was," Louis Tomlinson added. "I think she was shocked. I don't think she knew she would get so much attention from that."
But perhaps the best comment came from Liam Payne: "My thought was that it was very nice. It was a nice performance. It was cute... timid."
The boys continued with the teasing, adding that it was a "family friendly" performance, one you could "sit and watch with your grandma."
While Cyrus's grinding on Robin Thicke may have shocked a certain portion of viewers, others were far more peeved at what many have been calling a "minstrel show," as Cyrus has been criticized for commodifying stereotypical elements of black culture purely for shock value, such as having a black woman join her on-stage just to slap her ass, attempting to twerk and claiming to be "about that life" in her latest single.
If anything, fellow pop star Rihanna didn't look the slightest bit impressed last night, her facial expression revealing all that needed to be said in response to Cyrus's strange and arguably just badly done performance.
One Direction took home an award that night, winning "Song of the Summer" for their latest single, "Best Song Ever." Up against the band, Cyrus bailed on the awards show early, posting a tweet suggesint that she may have felt set up by MTV to perform her hit song and then not take home a single Moonman.
Leaving the VMAs. No it's not over. I'm no psychic but congrats @onedirection #songofthesummer
— Miley Ray Cyrus (@MileyCyrus) August 26, 2013
Interestingly, Robin Thicke has received perhaps the least amount of backlash for the performance, though the married singer's mother has confessed that the images from it may haunt her for the rest of her days.
"I haven't seen this new incarnation of Miley Cyrus yet," Gloria Loring told Yahoo! News. "I was not expecting her to be putting her butt that close to my son. The problem is now I can never unsee it."
Despite widespread criticism from all circles, perhaps this is exactly what Miley Cyrus wanted. It seems that no news outlet can stop talking about her and her weird performance, and while her fans continue to defend it as "fun" and not that serious, she does have the buzz going for her upcoming album "Bangerz," set to drop Oct. 4.
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2013 VMA, Artists.MTV, Music, Miley Cyrus
