How Can Tweens Think Miley's Worse Than Kanye?

An AOL survey of 9- to 15-year-olds has voted Cyrus the worst celebrity influence, but how can that be?

By Leslie Gornstein Oct 29, 2009 3:15 AMTags
Miley CyrusSteve Granitz/Getty Images

Why have the tweens suddenly turned on Miley Cyrus? There was just a survey calling her a bad influence.
—Forlu, via the Answer B!tch inbox

Like I KNOW, RIGHT? Especially because every single one of the people who voted in that survey on AOL is probably listening to "Party in the USA" right now. (And yes, Madison, Hailey, Breanna, Chloe and Zoe—I am talking to you.)

Given the raging success of the Hannah Montana movie and other Miley Cyrus juggernauts, it may seem odd that the tweens of America have suddenly decided to eat their own. They voted her their worst celebrity influence, just ahead of Britney Spears and Kanye West.

To understand why, look closer...

According to Stephanie Cohen, editor of AOL blog JSYK.com, which ran the survey, the biggest names in tweendom (9- to 15-year-olds), other than Cyrus, are:

  • Taylor Swift
  • the Twilight kids
  • Justin Bieber
  • and maybe Vanessa Hudgens

Aside from Hudgens' sort-of controversy involving nekkid pictures taken by her mebbe BF, the controversy level for those folks collectively falls somewhere between Ziggy and a turkey sandwich.

Cyrus, meanwhile, has had a string of no-nos, including those photos in Vanity Fair, the controversial slanty-eye snapshot, a brief flirtation with a stripper pole during an awards show, and dating an older guy (in tweenie world, 20 is like, geriatric—like Olsen twins old!).

All that has added up to alienate some of Cyrus' key fans, Cohen tells me.

"Miley is in this transitional period where she's trying to shed the Hannah Montana image," Cohen explains. "Some of her fans just don't want her to grow up."

Confidential to the tween crowd: Enjoy those turkey sandwiches.

_________

She's lovely, yes, but Miley makes plenty of goofy faces, too.