Foam Hand Creator Slams Miley Cyrus's MTV VMAs Routine

The man cited with creating the foam hand has joined the growing number of people slamming Miley Cyrus’s performance at the MTV VMAs last Sunday.

!Miley’s now infamous performance at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn saw her rub her crotch with a foam hand while twerked suggestively with her co-performer Robin Thicke.

The 20-year-old has already been criticised by a teddy bear charity, the Parents Television Council and stars including Kelly Clarkson, but now, Steve Chmelar, who’s widely cited as creating the foam hand for a high school state basketball final in 1971, has hit out.

Accusing Cyrus of “degrading” an “honourable sporting icon”, Chmelar told Fox Sports: "For people that like that kind of entertainment, I'm sure that it met their needs.

"If I had choice between Julie Andrews singing 'The Sound Of Music' and Miley Cyrus doing 'Can't Stop', I'd go the Julie Andrews route, but everyone has their choice and their decision."

He added: "I would say that it certainly misrepresented its intent to encourage team support. She took an honorable icon that is seen in sporting venues everywhere and degraded it.

“Fortunately, the foam finger has been around long enough that it will survive this incident. As for Miley Cyrus, let's hope she can outlive this event and also survive."

After being photographed by the Associated Press, Chmelar’s cloth and paper mache giant hand in 1971 is said to have influenced the mass-produced foam version later in the decade.

Photo: MTV/Getty

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