Los Angeles, March 1 (IANS): Pop star Miley Cyrus has defended her idea of using short people as backing dancers. She denies exploiting them.

The “We Can't Stop” star is accompanied by short people on stage for her current Bangerz Tour, but she has said they are employed to have fun and not because of their height, reports contactmusic.com.

Talking during a chat show, she said: “We're making them feel sexual and beautiful.”

Speaking more specifically about one of the dancers, she added: “We're all about lifting her up and making her feel so sexy all the time, and having her dance - she's actually an awesome dancer.

“They're just like dancing, doing these cute moves and they're awesome dancers just on their own. It's not me telling them how to be.

“It's really funny how serious people take it. And (people are) like, 'You're racist.' And I'm like, 'Really?' We're like a bunch of kids dancing around in, like, bear (suits), we don't do choreography.”