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happy miley cyrus bong-aversary, leaked 10 years ago today (december 10th, 2010)
the video had come amidst a rash of bad press for cyrus, in the throes of her "can't be tamed" days, caught in the crosshairs of her parents' divorce and an onslaught of child-star-gone-wrong worries in the press over her partying, leaked photos, and recurrent risqué displays.
according to tmz, which leaked the video, it was shot days after miley's 18th birthday in late november, with a "source" close to cyrus alleging the smokey substance in question wasn't pot, but rather the hallucinogen salvia
the tape had supposedly been stolen from a friend's camera, with the website further alleging miley's team had known about it for weeks, having attempted to snatch up any copies, and swapping laptops with a couple of college students who'd somehow gotten a hold of the footage
but followers of disney drama quickly devised their own theory as to how the video surfaced, IDing the goading voice behind the camera as that of one of miley's pals - anna oliver, a shadowy fixture in cyrus' disney circle who'd last been at the side of a rehab-bound demi lovato
after lovato pulled out of her concert tour in early november to check into a treatment facility, oliver had suddenly emerged as cyrus' new BFF, accompanying the teen phenom to scantily-clad performances in europe, and parties back in L.A.
and as fast as the video had surfaced, fans launched an anti-anna campaign across the web, spanning facebook, twitter, youtube (and, since this is 2010, formspring), driving the disney drama magnet into hiding and deactivating her accounts amid a sea of tweener death threats
meanwhile, the media reacted in kind, giddy to pounce on yet another miley controversy, with bill o'reilly labeling the giggly cyrus "pathetic," and anderson cooper admittedly transfixed by the random person in the back chomping down on frosted flakes
but others had questions - namely, was the salvia story legit? or a conveniently legal cover? mila kunis wasn't afraid to voice her suspicions
as did little house on the prairie's melissa gilbert, who also theorized miley cooked up the video leak to help shed her disney image, all the while the rest of hollywood squeezed in a few jokes
seth rogen and perez hilton took shots of their own, while michael buble wasn't exactly sure of what miley smoked, and even though steven tyler admitted he'd never heard of the cyrus-approved plant, he told miley to give him a call anyways
loyal fans on twitter took to trending "BOB MILEY" in her honor
and inevitably flooded forth the requisite bedroom webcam commentary from the era's top youtube personalities - take it away, @GloZell!
in the wake of miley's endorsement, sales of salvia saw a purported bump, all the while government discussions into banning the substance were suddenly renewed - and missing no chance to cash in on the drama, the owner of the famed bong launched a gmail (mileycyrusbong) for bids
meanwhile, some of miley's party pals returned to the scene of the high days later to recreate the headline-making video, with an added ditty in her honor:
and tmz rushed to decipher one more detail: the identity of the guy miley mistakes for her on-and-off boyfriend at the time, liam hemsworth - quickly deducing the mystery man as being friday night lights actor grey damon; "it was him and he has no comment," insisted a rep.
but there was one person surprisingly out of the loop, finding out about the video at the same time as the rest of the gossipy masses - miley's dad billy ray, who, like any great parent, took to twitter to voice his concern:
at the time of the video's leak, miley had been busy on the new orleans set of her latest film, so undercover, though reportedly unfazed by any of the drama and telling pals it was no big deal
mama tish touched down days later to join her daughter, dodging questions from prying paparazzi as little noah trudged in tow:
but drama continued to follow, with gossip sites decrying continued partying by miley, now joined by her rehabbed movie co-star kelly osbourne, who promptly took to twitter to swat reports the toking teen had driven her to a relapse:
meanwhile anna oliver, who'd come to visit her pal on set, was abruptly sent back home by cyrus; allegedly feeling betrayed, miley cut the friendship short - but perhaps just for show, as the shady pal would later crop up at various cyrus parties in the years to follow
and as the year came to a close, the hysteria seemed to cool. by early 2011, the controversy waned; in february, miley opened up about the video for the first time, offering a rare apology in marie claire, acknowledging she'd compromised her status as a kiddie role model
that same month billy ray spoke out as well, blaming the video, as well as his family's other troubles, on a surprising force: director david lynch, who'd helped to revive papa cyrus' flatlined career with a role in mulholland drive, paving the way for his daughter's disney role
reportedly furious over her dad's comments, miley pressured billy ray to cancel follow-up appearances on gma and the view, and billy ray would later voice his regrets over his interview during a sit-down with piers morgan
but with time the bong snafu would become a mere memory, albeit one worth a joke or two: exactly a year to the incident, miley (and pal kelly) would have a good laugh over the video - and the notorious "salvia" excuse - at yet another cyrus birthday blow-out
again, a video leaked, and ever-ready for a twitter tirade, ozzy's spawn leapt to miley's defense once more
but in the years since, miley's looked back at the incident more candidly, revealing in 2016 she'd lost a clothing deal with walmart over her amateur-level rip. "they said you had to choose weed or walmart," she recalled. "i chose weed."
and by the time of her follow-up album, 2013's bangerz - well, there was little doubt left who miley really was.
i'll leave you all with an animated retelling of events, and i hope you enjoyed this brief trip back to the days of anythingdiz and oceanup - TYFYT!
i'll leave you all with an animated retelling of events, and i hope you enjoyed this brief trip back to the days of anythingdiz and oceanup - TYFYT!
#update: miley has seen my post and still maintains it was salvia
