Published: April 30, 2008 09:36 pm      

Citizens: Cyrus’ controversy ‘being blown out of proportion’

BLUEFIELD — Controversial photographs of “Hannah Montana” star Miley Cyrus are making waves in the national media, but local audiences are thinking more about paying for gas than explaining Cyrus’s new look to their children.

Debate has gone back and forth ever since celebrity photographer Anne Leibovitz revealed the pictures she shot of 15-year-old Cyrus for the upcoming June edition of “Vanity Fair” magazine. Cyrus has since apologized for the photos which some critics say are too risqué for the wholesome “Hannah Montana” image presented on her Disney Channel show.

Local parents explained Wednesday at the Mercer Mall that they were not very worried about the photos. One woman said that the images would not unduly influence her children: they haven’t even brought up the subject.

“I wouldn’t want my daughter to pose like that and she’s 16,” said Michelle Miller, 41, of Bluefield. “My kids have been raised to know better.”

Another Bluefield resident felt the Cyrus photo controversy was getting too much attention.

“I think it’s being blown out of proportion,” 21-year-old Cassie Miller [no relation of Michelle Miller]. “I think she’s one of the only wholesome stars left and they want to make something out of nothing.”

Miller said she has a 2-year-old son, but she has two female cousins who are in the second and fourth grades.

“I talked to them about it, and I told them it wasn’t something they should be doing, but otherwise she was a very clean and wholesome star,” she said.

One mother with children who like “Hannah Montana” stated that she had no plans to view the “Vanity Fair” shots.

“I’ve heard about them, but in all honesty haven’t because I’m afraid they’d change my view,” said Denise Hurst, 38, of Princeton. “It would make me see her differently because of all the media, and I don’t think they’re [photos] really like that. I told them [children] sometimes the media takes things out of context.”

Another person felt the nation had more important issues to worry about than Cyrus’s questionable photographs.

“I think it’s overrated,” said Jennifer Fowler, 33, of Maybeury, who is the mother of two teenage boys. “We have all these things in the world going on. Gas is almost $4 a gallon and soldiers are being killed in Iraq. I have other things to worry about than her being on the cover of “Vanity Fair.’”

— Contact Greg Jordan at gjordan@bdtonline.com