Miley Cyrus Clarified Her Controversial Comments About Sexuality

On the heels of some questionable remarks about sexuality, Miley Cyrus clarified her comments that she “had to be gay” after it sparked backlash online. Cyrus filmed an Instagram Live on Oct. 20 with her new beau Cody Simpson and spoke about how her “hardcore feminist vibes” led to her inability to “[allow] anyone in.” She then assured fans that “there are good men out there” and to “not give up.” It’s her comments that followed that sparked backlash: “You don’t have to be gay. There are good people with d*cks out there, you just gotta find them,” Cyrus said. “I always thought I had to be gay because all guys are evil, but that’s not true.”

On social media shortly after, Twitter users pointed out how harmful her comments were toward the LGBTQ+ community due to the misguided assumption that people chose to be gay simply because they “gave up” on men. Now, Cyrus has clarified her comments on Twitter. “I was talking sh*t about sucky guys, but let me be clear, YOU don’t CHOOSE your sexuality,” she wrote on Oct. 21. “You are born as you are. It has always been my priority to protect the LGBTQ community I am a part of.”

Cyrus, who came out as pansexual in 2015, has long been vocal about her sexuality. In a June 2015 interview with Paper, she recalled a conversation about sexuality that she had with her mom at 14. “I remember telling her I admire women in a different way. And she asked me what that meant," she said. "And I said ‘I love them. I love them like I love boys.’ And it was so hard for her to understand... I just asked for her to accept me. And she has… I don’t relate to being boy or girl, and I don’t have to have my partner relate to boy or girl.”

More recently, Cyrus addressed her queer identity while she was still married to actor Liam Hemsworth. Prior to her split from Hemsworth in August, Cyrus told Vanity Fair in a February interview that her marriage to Hemsworth "redefined" what it looked like for "a queer person like myself to be in a hetero relationship.” She said in the interview, “What I preach is: people fall in love with people, not gender, not looks."

“What I’m in love with exists on almost a spiritual level,” Cyrus continued. “It has nothing to do with sexuality. Relationships and partnerships in a new generation — I don’t think they have so much to do with sexuality or gender. Sex is actually a small part, and gender is a very small, almost irrelevant part of relationships.”

After her split from Hemsworth, Cyrus had been linked to The Hills star Kaitlynn Carter. The two eventually split in September. Cyrus has been linked to Simpson, a fellow musician and longtime friend, since early October. In her recent controversial Instagram Live, Cyrus said of Simpson, “There are good people out there that just happen to have d*cks. I've only ever met one, and he's on this live."