Annie’s Song. Leibovitz, That Is
15 year old Miley Cyrus has apologized for “artistic” photographs taken of her by renown photographer Annie Leibovitz for Vanity Fair. Um… Why? She’s not a responsible adult, and I can think of at least three others around her who are supposed to be; her father, singer Billy Ray Cyrus, is not ignorant of how the industry works.
Disney, for whom Cyrus makes a lot of money as “Hannah Montana”, was also critical, but seems to be closer to the truth.
“Unfortunately, as the article suggests, a situation was created to deliberately manipulate a 15-year-old in order to sell magazines,” a network statement said.
Annie Leibovitz says she’s sorry you took her wrong.
“I’m sorry that my portrait of Miley has been misinterpreted,” Leibovitz said in a statement released by Vanity Fair. “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.”
I was almost ready to give Leibovitz the benefit of the doubt here (eye of the beholder, and all that). But this non-apology pushes her over the line. Technically, what she’s done is used (manipulated) a child to sell magazines by turning her into a sex object. By calling it “art”, she’s sacrificed innocence for expediency, and for someone of her reputation, it was not necessary for Leibovitz to do that.
