Miley Cyrus' dancing bear felt ashamed to be a little person

Miley Cyrus remains unapologetic about the new Miley.

While she might not be ashamed of her offensive gestures,  drug-laden lyrics, or general devil-may-care attitude, one of her back-up dancing bears at the MTV Video Music Awards was so ashamed that she left the Barclay Center shaking and crying.

Hollis Jane, a performer and little person, wrote a blog post about the experience that caused her to draw "a personal line in the sand."

Jane admitted that the job paid well and afforded her a free trip to Las Vegas, but notes that just because a job pays, doesn't mean it's not degrading.

"I will be the first one to tell you that standing on that stage, in that costume was one of the most degrading things I felt like I could ever do," she wrote. "… for the first time I felt truly ashamed of being a little person."

The aspiring actress claims that she didn't know she'd be wearing the bear costume until after she accepted the job.

"I had never been in a performance where I was purely meant to be gawked or laughed at. I will never forget that performance because it is what forced me to draw my personal line in the sand," she said.

"I love being the center of attention, but that was something different. I was being stared and laughed at for all of the wrong reasons. I was being looked at as a prop…as something less than human."

Jane notes that Cyrus's choice to have a little person dancing in a bear costume was only done for shock value, and furthers the plight of little people who are not taken seriously.

"When I did the VMAs. . . we were being used simply because we were little. It felt like society still saw us as a joke, despite the fact there is literally nothing different about me other than the fact I am small."

[h/t Daily Mail UK Online]