Miley Cyrus cries while opening up to Ellen DeGeneres about her huge Hurricane Harvey donation
Miley Cyrus has teared up while talking to Ellen DeGeneres about her charity’s donation to Hurricane Harvey relief efforts.
The pop star, who came out as gender-neutral earlier this year, used her charity Happy Hippy to give $500,000 to tackling the aftermath of the disaster.
At least 44 people have so far been killed by the hurricane and flooding, which has devastated swathes of America’s fourth largest city, Houston, and displaced thousands of families.
Ellen told the audience that Miley – who revealed she was pansexual in 2015 – had made the donation, before telling the singer: “You’re amazing.”
The Younger Now singer responded: “It’ll make me cry, so I can’t really talk about it” – and her words proved prescient, as she started tearing up.
“I don’t know why it makes me so upset. It just really makes me really upset,” she said.
“I just want people to know – I couldn’t fake it.”
Miley, who danced with the “world’s oldest drag performer,” 85-year-old James “Gypsy” Haake, at the MTV Video Music Awards last weekend, said the thought of going through what the Houston victims have was overwhelming.
“My grandma’s sitting here, and my mum’s here, and I go home to my seven dogs,” she said.
“If I didn’t have that anymore, it would just be really hard, so I’m just really happy to help any way that I can”.
Miley added: “I hope people understand and can put themselves in those people’s shoes, and know what it feels like to have everything taken away from you.”
Orange is the New Black star Ruby Rose was hit with abuse after her donation in the wake of the hurricane.
The actress generously gave $10,000 of her money to a Texas LGBT centre, but people criticised her, asking why she supposedly only offered to help LGBT people.
A pastor with ties to GOP Senator Ted Cruz has claimed that Hurricane Harvey was a “punishment” from God for Texas rejecting an anti-trans law, because of course he has.
And he’s far from alone.
Ann Coulter recently wondered about whether Hurricane Harvey was “God’s punishment” for Houston electing a lesbian mayor.
Even though former Mayor of Houston Annise Parker left office in 2016, she wrote: “I don’t believe Hurricane Harvey is God’s punishment for Houston electing a lesbian mayor. But that is more credible than ‘climate change’.”
Of course if the flooding hit more liberal states that supported LGBT rights, evangelical pundits would have been quick to blame their inclusiveness for incurring God’s wrath.
Given Texas is hardly the most pro-LGBT of states and Parker isn’t even in office, we can’t help but feel that it’s reaching a little bit to blame the gays this time.
Watch Miley opening up below:
