“You’re making a joke of some historical dancing.”
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Luther Campbell, the Miami-based record-label owner and rapper best known for raunchy hip hop anthems like "Pop That Coochie," knows a thing or a thousand about twerking.
Riding the Miami bass sound and amply-proportioned dancers to fame as part of the rap group 2 Live Crew in the 1990s, Campbell has seen more than enough twerking in his time to know what's real and what isn't. (And he knows plenty about getting in trouble for it, as well. In 1990, Campbell and 2 Live Crew were defendants in an obscenity trial.)
Miley Cyrus, according to Campbell, falls firmly into the fake category.
"Let's be real with it," Campbell said, "you're making a joke of some historical dancing."
Luther Campbell was of the first entertainers to combine twerking with live television. Here, dancers perform to the raunchy hit on the set of daytime talk show Donahue.
Campbell, who recently wrote a blog post for Miami New Times titled "Miley Cyrus is Doing What Got Me Banned in the U.S.A.", said Cyrus' performance at the MTV Video Music Awards exposed a double-standard perpetuated by TV networks and music industry executives.
"Do I respect the fact that she could still do that? Yes. Because I fight for that," Campbell said in an interview Friday at a Miami high school where he is an assistant football coach. "But at the same time, these execs at these networks, they frown and say, 'We can't play your video. No we can't support your product.' I mean, this ain't the first time she did this. She did it on 'Good Morning America.' I'm getting my 4-year-old ready for school, I've got the TV on, and (Cyrus) is giving a lapdance and I had to turn the TV off."