Interpreting the Miley Cyrus photo scandal

What happened

Photos that appear to be of Miley Cyrus, a/k/a “Hannah Montana,” pulling down her tank top to reveal her bra, and baring her midriff while sprawled across a young man, are circulating on the Internet. This is the second time such photos of the teen pop sensation have emerged—similar pictures from MySpace were leaked online recently. (AP)

What the commentators said

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“It’s not easy being the most popular teenager in the world,” said Deborah Netburn in the Los Angeles Times. “No one can keep it up forever. Somehow, somewhere, ‘little miss popular’ is going to mess up, and when she does, the pack will attack.” Especially when you position yourself “as a parent-friendly, good-girl role model.”

Cyrus may know exactly what she’s doing, said Gil Kaufman in MTV.com. “The pictures are the latest hint that the singer is in the midst of a transformation that could take her from a tween and teenybopper sensation to a more mature artist.” She even recently reached out to “the reigning queen of using-sex-as-a-marketing-ploy, Madonna”: Cyrus’s “YouTube send-up of Madge’s ‘4 Minutes’” supposedly “garnered” a “personal response from Madonna.”

Well, Cyrus better make up her mind, said FoxNews.com. “At the recent ‘Idol Gives Back’ charity event, Cyrus performed a song while dancing suggestively, causing some to question whether she’s still kid-friendly.” “But at the recent Kids Choice Awards, Cyrus took home trophies for favorite female singer and TV actress, thanking her mother, father, agent, manager, and ‘my lord and savior Jesus Christ.’”