Miley Cyrus' homeless "date" for the MTV Video Music Awards is homeless because of his own horrible life decisions. It may not be politically correct, but it's true (the two often go hand in hand).
For those of you not up to speed on this, here's the thumbnail: Miley Cyrus brought a "date" to the VMAs on Sunday who was identified as "Jesse," a homeless man in his twenties. When Cyrus won the award for Video of the Year, she sent "Jesse" up in her place to preach to the Hollywood elite assembled at the Nokia Live Theatre, as well as the millions at home watching, about the plight of the homeless.
He spoke eloquently about how despite the millions of dollars represented inside the theatre, there were over 50,000 homeless right outside the doors.
"I've survived in shelters all over this city," he said. "I've cleaned your hotel rooms. I've been an extra in your movies. I've been an extra in your life. Though I may have been invisible to you on the streets, I have a lot of the same dreams that brought many of you here tonight."
Make no mistake, the subtext of the speech was "There but for the grace of God go you." It's the typical progressive claptrap and guilt trip about homelessness. The idea that all Americans are just one paycheck away from living on the streets in a cardboard box has been a propaganda weapon used to diminish the glories of capitalism for decades.
But, like most Marxist ideas, it's a lie.
Tuesday, the world learned a little about "Jesse" and how he ended up on the streets of Los Angeles. Here's a synopsis via Billboard:
Not long after the VMAs, his mother confirmed to The Oregonian that Miley's Jesse was her son, Jesse Helt, a native of Salem, Oregon. And on Tuesday, Inside Edition spoke with an Oregon court official who revealed that Jesse Helt was arrested for attempting to break into an apartment four years ago. Billboard contacted the Salem police department and confirmed the 2010 incident.
Courts documents obtained by Inside Edition and shared with Billboard detail Helt's attempt to break into a Salem apartment in Oct. 2010. Helt was charged with criminal trespassing and criminal mischief. According to the AP, a warrant is currently out for his arrest.
Months later, Helt's probation officer filed documents stating that Helt skipped a probation check-in appointment and failed a drug test. Helt admitted to smoking marijuana, writing and signing a statement in March 2011 concerning his probation violation. The statement ended with the following promise: "For the sake of my freedom I have chosen to stop smoking weed and from now on I will not violate my probation."
Since then, Spin reports that he briefly attended community college and worked at the Oregon State Fair. While attempting to start a modeling career in Los Angeles, the AP reports that Helt lived on the streets.
So Jesse has a criminal record, an open warrant for his arrest, a drug problem, and is homeless because he took the brilliant career path into the safe and secure world of modeling.
Yeah... there but for the grace of God goes any irresponsible idiot.
The fact is, Jesse deserves to be homeless. I don't care if that sounds cold-hearted or mean-spirited, it's the truth.
Instead of propagandizing young people with the fear-mongering lie how a homeless person is just the same as anyone else but for a few bad breaks, Miley would have done our culture a greater service by having her prop (let's be real, he wasn't really her date) admit to all of the awful life choices he made that led him to living on the streets.
How about this for a speech:
I'm homeless and I'm living on the streets and I don't want this to happen to you. So don't do what I did. Don't break into an apartment, don't smoke pot, don't break parole. Get an education and have a solid and dependable plan for a job. Don't move to LA (one of the most expensive cities in the country) and don't try to be a model (one of the most unreliable professions in the world.)
Live right. Get an education. Get a real job.
It may not be a formula for fame and fortune, but it's a formula for not being homeless.