Chance The Rapper Is Not At All Pleased With Miley Cyrus' Casual Racism At The VMAs

Yesterday's MTV Video Music Awards were a typically ostentatious affair, but while the grand majority of coverage has been focusing on the wild and wacky outfits donned by host Miley Cyrus (not to mention that frosty, frosty sledge from Nicki Minaj), there is a growing chorus of dissent over elements of her performance that have been deemed pretty dang racist.

Among the foremost critics of Miley's dangerous use of cultural lingo and aesthetics that don't really belong to her is venerated hip hop star Chance The Rapper, who spent his VMAs evening on Twitter expressing his consternation at the casualness with which the Wrecking Ball starlet was flaunting her cross-cultural comfort.

Most particularly, he and several others on Twitter balked at Cyrus' offhand use of the racist term 'mammy' — an antiquated, not exactly harmless word for an African-American nanny looking after white children — when introducing veteran rapper Snoop Dogg.

I think shorty said "my real mammy" <

— Chance The Rapper (@chancetherapper) August 31, 2015

"Mammy" pic.twitter.com/kuwgo2lsNm

— Chance The Rapper (@chancetherapper) August 31, 2015

While Snoop, who is publicly pretty friendly with Cyrus, having referred to her as his 'homegirl' on at least one occasion in the lead-up to the ceremony, hasn't seemed to have been overly affected by the comment (he's yet to say anything about it, despite being active on social media since), it nonetheless stuck in Chance The Rapper's craw, as did a number of the skits, notably MTV's satirical White Squad, and Cyrus' use of fake dreadlocks in one of her outfits.

These skits <

— Chance The Rapper (@chancetherapper) August 31, 2015

The dreads <

— Chance The Rapper (@chancetherapper) August 31, 2015

White squad...

— Chance The Rapper (@chancetherapper) August 31, 2015

However, Cyrus wasn't the only target of complaints from people who felt the whole program might have skated on thin racial ice, with Aussie-bred comedian Rebel Wilson also drawing strong ire for a joke that many felt made light of the plight of black America in the face of demonstrable, violent inequality at the hands of white police.

Police brutality is not a joke. Violence against POC is not a joke. I am appalled by MTV, the #VMAs, and @RebelWilson. #BlackLivesMatter

— kellz (@stayfeminists) August 31, 2015

Rebel Wilson was never funny to me. And the fact that she sexualized police brutality and mocked the #blacklivesmatter movement sickens me.

— O♑️E (@salutemeimnic) August 31, 2015

I will catch the performances later. @RebelWilson just made me livid. How could you attempt to make humor out of black lives matter? #vma

— Norma J. (@TheNormaJeane) August 31, 2015

Shame on @RebelWilson for making a mockery of the Black Lives Matter movement before presenting the best rap album award. What was that?!

— Denea Joseph (@TheQueenD94) August 31, 2015