A Heavy Message Was Delivered When a Homeless Teen Accepted Miley Cyrus's VMA Award

When Jimmy Fallon announced that the pop star had won the Video of the Year award for her hit song, "Wrecking Ball," Cyrus passed up the chance to thank her producers and managers for helping her achieve her goals. Instead, she sent up a former homeless teen to deliver a short speech intended to raise awareness about the issue of homeless youth.

'I have survived in shelters all over this city,' Jesse, Cyrus' proxy, said, describing his experience as one of the 1.6 million homeless young people in the United States. 'I've cleaned your hotel rooms, I've been an extra in your movies. I've been an extra in your life. Though may have been invisible to you on the streets I have a lot of the same dreams that brought many of you here tonight.'