Whenever a slew of celebrities show up to a red carpet event, they are fully aware that they will have their photos taken by a small army of photographers. More importantly, the stars that have the most striking look at those events get lots of attention and that kind of publicity is extremely valuable to them. On the opposite side of that coin, if a celebrity does something embarrassing on a red carpet, the internet will never forget.

Considering how important it is for famous people to look incredible on the red carpet, it isn’t overly surprising that someone like Lady Gaga goes all out. Thankfully for all of the other stars, there are other ways to garner the press’ attention. Admirably enough, some stars that attend events like awards shows use the opportunity to do some good in the world instead of solely looking out for themselves.

As a former child star who has been involved in her fair share of scandals over the years, it seems very safe to say that Miley Cyrus has matured a lot. For that reason, it made perfect sense when she chose to let a homeless man speak for her at the 2014 VMAs instead of giving a typical awards show acceptance speech. Of course, the man that spoke for Miley left the spotlight before long so that begs an obvious question, what has happened to him since then.

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Lifelong Star

As the daughter of Billy Ray Cyrus, Miley Cyrus had an idea what it meant to be famous from an extremely young age. Despite the fact that she must have known that every aspect of her life would be talked about, including how she treats employees, Miley chose to become a child star herself. First made famous when she began starring in the Disney Channel show Hannah Montana, she headlined that series from 2006 until 2011.

After Hannah Montana came to an end, Miley Cyrus’ image underwent a massive overhaul, to say the very least. On top of wearing clothes that likely would have made her former Disney Channel bosses faint, Cyrus also began tackling much more substantial ideas with her music.

Thankfully for Miley, she has managed to hold on to enough of her original fans and garner so many new ones that she remains a highly successful singer. In fact, when she released the music video for her song “Midnight Sky” in August 2020, it was viewed on YouTube 23 million times in 48 hours.

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An Unusual Acceptance Speech

When fans tune into an awards show, they are hoping to see their favorite artists win. That said, we all have to admit that most acceptance speeches are pretty boring, even if you are overjoyed that the person is reigning supreme. After all, seeing stars thank a bunch of people that most people have never heard of isn’t all that compelling.

During the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards, Miley Cyrus arguably was supposed to be the top dog when her music video for “Wrecking Ball” won Video of the Year. As it turns out, however, Cyrus had other plans as she had a young homeless man named Jesse Helt accept her award in an attempt to bring attention to a serious social problem.

After meeting Miley Cyrus though My Friend’s Place, an organization that helps homeless youth, Jesse Helt found himself in front of the world and he expressed himself very well. “I am accepting this award on behalf of the 1.6 million runaways and homeless youth in the United States who are starving and lost and scared for their lives," he said. "I know, because I am one of those people."

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The Years Since

While there are a lot of reasons why people become victims of the homeless epidemic, the truth of the matter is that many of them stay on the streets due to legal entanglements. After all, it can be nearly impossible to get a decent job with a criminal record and once someone is forced to live on the streets, desperation can set in which often results in criminal charges.

Long before Jesse Helt found himself accepting an MTV Video Music Award on behalf of Miley Cyrus, he was charged with criminal trespass in Oregon. Eventually given parole, in order to stay out of prison, Helt had to remain in Oregon. Instead, he traveled to Los Angeles where he attended an awards show and was seen on national television.

Opting to turn himself after it became clear that he’d broken his parole, Jesse Helt’s lawyer asked a judge for leniency explaining that he didn’t have a stable upbringing. Unfortunately for Helt, the judge didn’t grant his leniency request as he instead, sentenced him to 6 months in jail.

On the bright side, after Jesse Helt served his sentence, he seemingly turned things around for himself. In fact, according to TMZ, by the year 2016 Helt was living in a studio apartment and he was expecting to welcome a baby into the world. Like a lot of expectant parents, Helt was concerned about money at that time so he put the Video Music Award he accepted on behalf of Miley Cyrus up for sale on eBay. It is unclear how much money Helt may have gotten for the award, or even if he went through with the sale. That said, according to the TMZ article that revealed Helt’s attempt to sell the VMA, fans could “Buy It Now” for $15,000.

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