Entertainment

Inventor of giant foam finger says Miley Cyrus ‘degraded an honorable icon’

Taylor Bigler Entertainment Editor
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The inventor of the giant foam finger, the preferred accessory of ice hockey fans, is not very happy with Miley Cyrus.

Cyrus, who took advantage of a foam finger onstage during her performance at the MTV Video Music Awards by making it into a phallus, is being condemned by Steve Chmelar, the man who created the first giant foam finger in 1971.

“She took an honorable icon that is seen in sporting venues everywhere and degraded it,” Chmelar told FoxSports. “Fortunately, the foam finger has been around long enough that it will survive this incident.”

Chmelar invented the “No. 1” foam finger during his senior year of high school in Iowa as a way to root for his school’s team. Five years later, the prototype was sold to Geral Fauss and mass produced for sporting events and onstage air-humping to this day.

“For people that like that kind of entertainment, I’m sure that it met their needs,” Chmelar said. “If I had a choice between Julie Andrews singing ‘The Sound of Music’ and Miley Cyrus doing ‘Can’t Stop,’ I’d go the Julie Andrews route, but everyone has their choice and their decision.”

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