Miley Cyrus won the 2014 MTV Video Music Award for Video of the Year, Sunday night, Aug. 24, at The Forum in Inglewood, California. But instead of accepting the award herself, she sent a young man onto stage to accept it on her behalf.
After Jimmy Fallon announced that the 21-year-old singer's "Wrecking Ball" had won the Video of the Year award, a longhaired man who said he was from Oregon and had recently been living on the streets of Hollywood, took the microphone and said, "Thank you all - my name is Jesse. 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. I know, because I am one of those people," The New York Times reported.
"I have survived in shelters all over this city. I've cleaned your hotel rooms. I've been an extra in your movie. I've been an extra in your life," he added, according to ABC News. "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."
Jesse then somehow tried to put the music industry in chagrin, saying, "The music industry will make over $7 billion this year, and outside these doors are 54,000 human beings who have no place to call home."
In the end of his speech, he asked everyone to visit the "Adore You" hitmaker's Facebook page, where details about My Friend's Place, a homeless center for young people in Hollywood, was posted.
At one point during his speech, the camera cut to Cyrus, who was watching Jesse from a ramp near the stage, tearing up, while the rest of the audience clapped nervously.
As Jesse accepts Cyrus awards, representatives for the former Disney Channel star introduced a Prizeo.com fund-raising campaign for My Friend's Place via her social media accounts. All people who would make donations before Sept. 21 will be entered in a raffle. The winner of the lottery would have a chance to hang out with Cyrus in Rio de Janeiro on Sept. 28 during the South American leg of her Bangerz tour.
"I'm just getting started and I want to make sure my fans are part of helping me to give back and make an impact on this issue. This is about helping youth, people just like you and me have the opportunity to find their inner power and potential, no matter what their circumstances," Cyrus said of the her new advocacy in a statement, according to People.
"My Friend's Place is so grateful for Miley's genuine interest and involvement in supporting homeless youth in Los Angeles," My Friend's Place Executive Director Heather Carmichael said in the same statement. "By Miley drawing attention to the nation's homeless youth crisis and the work we are doing locally, we hope to soon be able to expand our services and help even more young people."