Paula Patton on Robin Thicke's VMA Performance With Miley Cyrus: 'The Foam Finger Was Respectful'
The actress says she thought her husband's duet with Cyrus was "amazing" and was surprised at the backlash.
Paula Patton is a fan of the foam finger.
The actress' husband, Robin Thicke, was at the center of the controversy surrounding Miley Cyrus' racy performance at last month's Video Music Awards, where she first performed her hit "We Can't Stop" and then sang with Thicke on his own "Blurred Lines."
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The duet sparked outrage among many viewers who flooded the FCC with complaints over the performance, which featured Cyrus twerking alongside Thicke while making suggestive gestures with a foam finger.
But Patton told The Tonight Show's Jay Leno on Monday that she thought the pair did an "amazing" job and she was surprised at the backlash.
"Obviously, they rehearsed for days, so I knew about it," she said. "The funny thing is, he got off stage, and I was like, 'You guys killed it. It was amazing.' I woke up the next morning to all these texts. 'I'm praying for you.' 'I’m here for you if you want to talk.' I was like, 'What?' I don't know what people expected; it's a song about molly [ecstasy, as referenced in Cyrus' song]. I don't know whey they thought, she'd sit down and play piano like Alicia Keys? It made sense to me. I thought it was great."
One of the complaints submitted to the FCC was that Cyrus' movement gave Thicke "a slight erection, which can be easily noticed through his pants."
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But Patton is a defender of the infamous foam finger and denied that Thicke was aroused by it.
"Honestly, the foam finger, I thought was really respectful," she said. "To touch him with a foam finger, that's not going to do anything to my man. With a bare finger, you'd see a reaction on his face. She didn't feel anything. He didn't feel anything. I thought it was kind."
The Tonight Show airs at 11:35 weeknights on NBC.
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