Miley's VMAs won't be safe for children, says the Parents Television Council

This year's VMAs are Miley's party — the star was tapped to host the awards show this August — so, naturally, she can do what she wants to.

But that doesn't mean the Parents Television Council has to like it.

The censorship advocacy group issued a statement condemning MTV's choice of Cyrus as this year's host, calling for the network to give the VMAs a TV-MA rating. They also protested MTV's bundling in cable packages, which won't let outraged parents can "unsubscribe" from the channel after they see Miley twerk all over the stage. (Though given her new raver-hippie-child image, she's more likely to shock the American public this time around by smoking something illegal on-air while dressed like a unicorn.)

PTC President Tim Winter told Gossip Cop that the Miley-hosted VMAs are "not going to be safe for children to watch."

“With Miley’s shtick, it’s probably going to be very edgy, very profane, very sexually explicit,” he said. “As a parent of a teenager, the content from two years ago was clearly not appropriate for a 14-year-old. I think last year’s was toned down quite a bit. I think that came from advertiser pressure to not have a re-twerk. This year, clearly, they’re going to try to ramp it back up again. And based on everything we’ve seen Miley doing in recent years, she certainly seems angry and certainly seems enjoying being the provocateur.”

"I think it’s unfortunate she built her entire career on the backs of parents and now she’s basically giving them the middle finger," he said.

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But he also put the blame on MTV's shoulders, saying the network is paying Miley to provoke. "Miley’s the performer," he said. "She can do whatever she wants to. She’s hired to perform and be provocative.”

Harsh! But considering how Miley came in like a wrecking ball (and collided with our basic standards of decency) during the 2013 VMAs, the Council's suggestion of a TV-MA rating...isn't the worst idea?

By this point, however, parents of younger children should probably know what to expect from a Miley-hosted awards show — and if they don't, they're in for a surprise when they see how Miss Cyrus has "matured" post-Hannah Montana.

Read the full PTC statement below:
MTV’s choice of Miley Cyrus as host for its annual Video Music Awards show makes clear the network’s intentions as to what kind of program it intends to air. This raises two serious issues. First, if MTV cannot guarantee that the program will be suitable for children, then the network must – must – rate the show TV-MA. Assigning any lower age-rating constitutes an express message to parents, and to corporate sponsors, that the program will be free of explicit material. Second, the network’s decision reminds us that subscribers should be able to pick up the phone and ‘unsubscribe’ to MTV. But we can’t. Viacom is able to force-bundle MTV onto every cable and satellite subscription in the country, squeezing nearly 50¢ per month per customer – half a billion dollars per year – regardless whether they want MTV or not. It is high time for Congress, the FCC and the courts to end the cable cartel’s extortion-like scheme of forced network bundling.