By DYLAN ABLAN

Staff Writer

Miley Cyrus “graced” the stage during Sunday’s Video Music Awards at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn as the new and not-so-improved Miley 2.0, with her performance of her new hit single “We Can’t Stop” on Sunday.

From the dancing to the singing, the performance was definitely shocking. Cyrus came out in a bizarre furry Chuck E. Cheese-like dress and proceeded to try and twerk all over the MTV crowd.

Later in the performance she ripped off her outfit to reveal a nude bikini for an awkward grinding extravaganza with Robin Thicke.

As a male, I was at first intrigued by the idea of Miley Cyrus romping around stage in a bikini. But what she brought to the stage was a dreadful and pointlessly raunchy performance that made me fear for the future of entertainment.

Even more bothersome was the fact that Cyrus’s was the most widely advertised performance of the awards in the weeks leading up to the awards show. Every VMA promo that aired on television seemed to advertise Cyrus.

Justin Timberlake, Bruno Mars and Kanye West all put on jaw-dropping performances but were hardly advertised. Their appearances in the promos lasted a whole two seconds.

Obviously, MTV knew what Cyrus would do onstage and they saw it as an opportunity to boost the ratings and create a media frenzy. It is infuriating that in today’s world, companies feel the need to use sex and shock value as tools to gain attention.

Sadly, MTV seems to be one of the biggest perpetrators when it comes to marketing trashy media. In the past few years, MTV has completely stripped the channel of all music-related programming and filled it with horrific television shows like “Jersey Shore,” “Teen Mom” and “Buck Wild.”

Miley Cyrus’s VMA performance proved to be an eye-opening look at what music and television have become and where they will be going in the future. Say goodbye to talent and meaningful performances and say hello to entertainment built upon outrageous amounts of over-sexualized imagery and shock value.