Body Double (AKA Shut Up Already!)

Okay, I just have to chime in about this body double scandal. For those of you who haven't heard, OK Magazine has published this story:

According to several fans who dished out hundreds of dollars to catch the young singer perform live on her current sold-out national tour, it appears Miley may be using a not-very-convincing "Hannah" double to cover for her during a mysterious mid-song disappearance from the stage.

"When it got the to bridge of the song "We Got the Party," her dancers began to crowd around her," one ticked-off Miley fan tells OK!. "Then they covered her with a black sheet and she went through a secret door. Within a second, a new 'Hannah' came out of a different door wearing oversized white glasses. The whole time this was happening Miley's vocals were still playing. The new imposter had her back turned while she danced, trying to hide that fact that she was not Miley Cyrus. At this instant I became very suspicious."

"Needless to say I was furious!" says the irate fan. "I paid good money to see the concert. I was disappointed and I felt like I was played for a fool."

This story has become sort of a big deal, and people are accusing Miley of being a fake. Let me state for the record that Miley is the real deal. She sings her heart out every night.

Let me also explain how entertainment works. Entertainment is not reality. We're putting on a show here. Doubles are used frequently in big shows like this to speed transitions. This does not mean that Miley is lipsynching. Miley sings the entire song but the last chorus, which is strictly a logistical solution. Think about it from the perspective of executing the show yourself. If Hannah has to come back out as Miley in ten minutes, and in that ten minutes, has to remove the wig, change clothes, and do her Miley hairstyle, an extra two minutes becomes very important. So she needs to get off stage early, but there's no way she can be singing while she's changing her clothes, so it must be pre-recorded. There's no way around it. These things happen all the time. People are comparing this to Ashlee Simpson, which is wrong. This is how these big shows are put together. But the difference is, most artists don't have exclusively teenage fans who don't understand how shows are assembled.

Miley is not on stage lipsynching. And as OK Magazine said, the double is not that convincing, and the dancers are obviously covering Hannah in a black sheet. Not really scandal material so much as a tiny show detail to notice. No one is trying to cover this up.

Long story short - hey kids: you enjoyed the show, right? Miley entertained you. Right? Leave it at that and stop accusing the most genuine, talented, sweet girl in the business of being a fake. Don't you have homework to do?