A few weeks ago, everybody’s favorite Disney teen Miley Cyrus did something shocking. It did not involve Annie Leibovitz and a half-draped sheet. It did not involve Miley posing with her father as if he was a lover. It did not involve Miley humping a chair while her director took pictures. It did not involve anything racist. It did not involve having a 20-year-old boyfriend who likes to do Bible studies late at night, when he’s spending the night. So… maybe I should have been clearer before. Another day, another Miley Cyrus scandal. The latest one involved a stripper pole, a pair of hotpants and a screaming audience of pre-teens at the so-called “Teen Choice Awards”.

As you could imagine, Miley’s stripper pole show caused quite a bit of controversy. According to the Enquirer, the parents attending the Teen Choice Awards were absolutely furious, and were overheard venting their frustrations about… Billy Ray Cyrus. One showbiz mom said, “Billy Ray should be slapped across the face – and Tish needs her head examined.” Another pointed out: “They approved this routine – knowing Miley’s got a pedophile stalker who’s all over the news? It’s insane!” The Enquirer also got some quotes from some of the kids in the audience, some of whom didn’t even think Miley’s stripper dance was cute. One teenage boy said, “We like Miley because she’s a nice girl who’s cute… But she was acting like a stripper… so slutty!” Oh, for goodness sake. It was a stripper pole, not a lap dance. I mean, I think it was totally inappropriate and everything, but let’s not call Miley a “slut” and all.

Because Billy Ray’s schedule is so hectic, what with… uh… you know… riding his daughter’s coattails, or whatever his job title is these days, he’s just now gotten around to defending his daughter from The Stripper Pole Scandal of 2009. Billy’s defense? It’s just entertainment, y’all!

Billy Ray Cyrus doesn’t think daughter Miley’s pole dance at the Teen Choice Awards earlier this month was so controversial.

“You know what? I just think that Miley loves entertaining people,” he tells Access Hollywood at Thursday’s Hellman’s/Facebook Feeding American Event in NYC.

“She loves singing [and] songwriting,” he adds of his 16-year-old daughter, who swirled around a pole attached to an ice cream truck during her performance of “Party in the USA” Aug. 10. In an Usmagazine.com poll, 85 percent of readers voted she was too young to dance so provocatively.

Billy Ray tells his daughter to ignore negative reactions.

“I always tell her to love what you’re doing and stay focused for the love of the art and not worry so much about opinion,” he says.

“I give my kids a lot of freedom to make the art they wanna make, and make it in their own voice. I think it’s important,” Billy tells Us at the same event.

[From Us Weekly]

Totally f-cking clueless. This one is another Pervert Joe Simpson, mark my words. Billy Ray might have already eclipsed Pervert Joe, actually. Joe Simpson, for all of his faults, really only started saying inappropriate stuff when Jessica Simpson was a legal adult. Not Billy Ray – for his little 16-year-old, there’s nothing inappropriate, foolish, ridiculous, insane, perverse or gross that he won’t whole-heartedly co-sign.

Miley and Billy are shown on 4/25/09. Credit: WENN.com