@themoment_vault: On August 25, 2013, Miley Cyrus took the stage at the MTV VMAs alongside Robin Thicke for a performance that dominated the cultural conversation for weeks. She emerged from a giant teddy bear in a nude latex two-piece, performed with a foam finger, and twerked on Thicke in front of a primetime television audience. The internet response was instantaneous and overwhelming. Within hours, every major publication had filed a think piece. Miley’s name broke Twitter records. The word ‘twerking’ entered mainstream vocabulary essentially overnight. What gets discussed less frequently is the stark difference in how the two performers were treated afterward. Robin Thicke, the 36-year-old married man on that stage, largely escaped serious scrutiny. Miley, who was 20, absorbed almost all of it. She has since spoken candidly about that period of her career, saying she was deliberately dismantling the Disney image she had spent years building and that the performance was entirely intentional. Whether the world was ready for it or not was never really her concern. 🐻 #TheMomentVault #MileyCyrus #RobinThicke #VMAs #2013

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Friday 17 July 2026 18:17:30 GMT