Miley Cyrus Lap Dance Video: TMZ update, Ashton Kutcher take

The Miley Cyrus Lap Dance Video, where Miley Cyrus is giving movie helmer (that's another term for 'producer') Adam Shankman a lap dance and Shankman's trying to grind dance her before that has caused a stir, a debate, and for a time a headache for TMZ.com, YouTube, and this blogger. But before I get to that, let's catch up with this lap dance sex scandal.

The reaction to the sight of Adam Shankman and Miley Cyrus basically simulating getting it on and on the heels of her Can't be Taimed song release  has caused a wildly varied number of views to surface.

On CNN's Rick's List, Rick Sanchez said what Cyrus did was "disgusting," which prompted Ashton Kutcher to fire off at him on Twitter (@aplusk), tweeting the following in series:

@ricksanchezcnn you want to report about exploitation of teenagers report on this http://bit.ly/c6Gip0
about 21 hours ago via Brizzly
RT @AngelicaCTorres: The 44 year old man happens 2 b gay! be a reporter @ricksanchezcnn get the whole story!!!
about 22 hours ago via Brizzly
I think it's important to think about the context of the event she was at @stef_juju it's not like she was at a club w/ some stranger
about 22 hours ago via Brizzly in reply to stef_juju

hey @ricksanchezcnn ur comments on Miley R completely unwarranted. She's 17. What is this the movie Footloose? judgement is unbecoming

That exchange between the 32-year-old Ashton Kutcher and the 52-year old Rick Sanchez is common. And what's more interesting is the habit of pointing out that Adam Shankman's Gay. In my book, that's meaningless.

Miley Cyrus and Adam Shankman

What I've said in the video and I contend is that Adam Shankman and Miley Cyrus had what seemed to be a pretty chummy relationship that first surfaced over a photo of the two of them that Adam Shankman posted on Twitter last year.

Frankly, the photo was no big deal to me then and it's no big deal to me now except as gossip fodder and I didn't touch it. But now, with the video, the photo takes on new meaning. Given that both are public figures and Shankman seems to have a fun-loving taste for hedonism, it's fair to ask if they did have sex.

Being Gay is a laugher of an excuse; this blogger has slept with women who said they were Lesbian before and after sex.

Now, in a pavolian fashion, someone will angrily respond "That means they weren't Lesbian" but the bottom line is what they called themselves before and after sex. Someone who gets upset with that has massive issues. The fact is that when it comes to behavior, people don't always live in the boxes they craft.

To digress for a moment, I love the scent of a woman and smart, athletic, confident women have always been attractive to me, and it's because I "click" with them. Sometimes things happen from that, and at times it's with a woman who says she's Lesbian.

Miley Cyrus seems to "click" really well with people who are free and fun-loving. Take a look at this video from her website:



My guess is she has or had the same relationship with the 45-year old Adam Shankman as she does with 22-year-old Scotty: flirtatious and fun. The fact is that Shankman's 44 and now 45 years did not matter to anyone in that circle of people. On his Twitter account, Adam Shankman says he's an "all around immature nice guy."

From that perspective it means Shankman's not going to act his age. It has nothing to do with being Gay or not - Adam could have been straight - and everything do with being fun-loving and especially hedonistic. The question is how far did it go? The answer is only the two of them know. The fact that her father Billy Ray Cyrus think grind dancing is something girls Miley's age do (which is true) doesn't calm the waters one bit.

Given the negative heat Adam's getting about this affair, he should do a 'David Letterman' and just tell what happened, then get on with life. If he's open about it, people will love him; if he's defensive, people will dislike him.

TMZ, YouTube, and video image control

The back story to all of this is TMZ and Warner Brothers went on a rampage and took down every copy of TMZ's Miley Cyrus video on YouTube including my original one. That set in motion a complex array of communications by this blogger which ultimately resulted in the video you saw at the top of this blog.

I want to take time to thank TMZ and YouTube for their time and effort. I think the lesson in all of this is that when a public figure does something the public does have a right to know about it and see it. Miley Cyrus and Adam Shankman are public figures. That overcomes any effort to control distribution of an image because this is a story about what that person did and is not a parody of their image.

Going forward, celebrity news sites must remember that even if they have purchased the right to use an image of a celebrity, their private transaction does not overcome the public's "right to know" in the case of the actions of celebrities and politicians and the use of the image of those actions for a news or commentary related project such as a newspaper column, a video, or a blog.

Rock the Casbah!