There is a furore in America as Disney’s Hannah Montana’s alter ego actress Miley Cyrus, a genuine idol to pre-teens and younger, had a grown-up photo shoot with Annie Lebovitz for Vanity Fair.

The 15-year old was shown in one shot wrapped only in a bedsheet and in another sprawled, fully clothed, across Billy Ray Cyrus, her Dad. You would have thought she strutted naked down Main Street USA of the Disneyland theme park judging by the moral outrage of parents across the USA.

As usual Annie’s shoot was tastefully provocative and showed a young actress eager to show a depth of range and grow out of the child’s role which she will otherwise be forever cast as in the future unless we allow her to grow up.

Said Lebovitz, “I’m sorry my portrait of Miley has been misinterpreted. Miley and I looked at fashion photographs together, and we discussed the picture in that context before we shot it. The photograph is a simple, classic portrait, shot with very little makeup, and I think it is very beautiful.”

So get over yourselves people.

Young Daniel Radcliffe did it, choosing as his post Harry Potter Film 5 acting gig, to perform as the troubled youth in Peter Shaffer’s Equus. In that stage play he plays a troubled youth who blinds four horses with a poker and in the penultimate scene before the blinding act, he stands onstage completely naked in a brilliant pas de deux with the actors playing the horses to show the level of delusion in the character’s mind.

There was a buzz, tickets sold out in record time and teenage girls were all a flutter during that scene. It did not hurt his career or cause rioting in the streets of London. So if it’s OK for Harry Potter, why not Hannah?

Her repentant quote: “I took part in a photo shoot that was supposed to be ‘artistic’ and now, seeing the photographs and reading the story, I feel so embarrassed,” she said in the statement. “I never intended for any of this to happen and I apologize to my fans who I care so deeply about.”

But then we’re used to seeing the masses of morally outraged talking heads in America aren’t we? Reverend Wright’s clips play over and over as they foam at the mouth over the degradation of society. Perhaps Ms. Cyrus and her family enrolled themselves in the Donald Trump school of public relations, there is no such thing as bad publicity, there are only two kinds of publicity, some and none.

Disney already makes $1 billion a year off of Hannah Montana. This will only bring new fans to the table.

At least Britney Spears and Paris Hilton are no longer in the headlines…

============

Quotes from those in the know..

“Leave her alone. She’s gonna be 16 soon and then 17 and then 18, and then she might show her knees and then what’s gonna happen?”
– Madonna, defending Miley Cyrus’s Vanity Fair photo shoot, to Ryan Seacrest

“I too was a little embarrassed by my recent topless ’scandal’ and the subsequent parodies.”
– Jamie Lee Curtis, musing on the Miley Cyrus scandal, on her blog

“A situation was created to deliberately manipulate a 15-year-old in order to sell magazines.”
- Disney Channel spokesperson

“I love Miley Cyrus. My granddaughters are completely and utterly over the moon. I watch Hannah Montana….I think, ‘Let it go for God’s sake’…It’s a beautiful picture.”
-Sally Field

“It’s a lot of pressure. I don’t know how I would even begin to give her advice because I feel she has a huge career and she’ll learn how to deal with it.”
-Hillary Duff

“I found it a bit silly. I thought she looked beautiful in the pictures. I didn’t find it that inappropriate. I think it’s difficult. It s a lot of pressure on her since she is a role model, but I think she’s doing a good job.”
-Lauren Conrad

I think she’s a young girl in Hollywood and she’s just having fun. Exploring herself.”
-Heidi Montag

“I didn’t think it was that bad. Supposedly, she’s wearing a top underneath. It’s artistic.”
- Spencer Pratt

“I had two photo shoots with her [Annie Leibovitz]. It’s intimidating. I also didn’t think it was a pornographic photo in any capacity. I thought it was kind of a beautiful portrait, you know. I like the one of her and her dad too. It’s Annie Leibovitz people. Leave Miley alone!”
-Rosie O’Donnell

Hillary Duff told People:
“Everyone goes through things and takes their own path,” Duff said Monday a press event for her new movie War Inc. “Who am I to judge decisions that she made?”

Still, Duff says she would not have chosen the same path for herself. “People are pushing you to do something, and if you want to do it, that’s your choice, you know?” added the singer-actress. “It’s not what I would choose to do, but if she did then that’s fine. That’s her choice.