‘Don’t do this.’ Backlash blossoms after Miley Cyrus posts photos posing in Joshua tree

Miley Cyrus got up to some “monkey bizzzzznassssss” in a Joshua tree, according to an Instagram post Monday, but not everyone’s entertained.

The photo, one of several posted to both Instagram and Twitter, landed the singer in a prickly situation with some fans, who pointed out the endangered trees are protected in some parts of California, where the photos appear to have been shot.

“girl pls get out of the trees they’re aren’t made for climbing and could face irreversible damage thank u,” read one comment on Twitter.

“Show some respect. Don’t climb the Joshua Trees. Not what they’re there for,” read another Twitter response.

“Are you sitting in a Joshua Tree??? Those are hundreds of years old, touching them feels like a literal crime. Ugh I thought you were an environmentalist,” wrote another critic on Twitter.

“Don’t do this,” read a comment Wednesday on one of the Instagram posts, on which comments were later disabled. “Joshua trees are dying out because of their fragility, and folks climbing on them isn’t helping curb that. Delete this before more damage is done.”

But some fans defended Cyrus.

“I am sure Miley had no idea she wasn’t allowed to climb this tree,” wrote one on Instagram Wednesday before comments were disabled. “She’s not a Joshua tree expert of any sort, so she wouldn’t know.”

Joshua trees are actually succulents, related to cacti, rather than actual trees, according to the National Wildlife Federation. They typically live up to 150 years, although one Joshua tree is believed to be more than 1,000 years old, the federation says.

Cyrus’s Instagram photos in the Joshua tree, which she posted Tuesday, had been viewed from 610,000 to 1 million times by Thursday morning.

The National Park Service even weighed in on the controversy.

“We know that Miley visits the park occasionally,” said Joshua Tree National Park spokesman George Land, The Desert Sun reported. “We’re not sure where that tree was (including if it was in the park).”

“While we would appreciate it that people would respect the fact that desert vegetation is a little bit fragile at times, we don’t want to incite people to carry out some kind of threat against Miley Cyrus, or anybody else that would do that,” Land said, according to the publication.

And Geary Hund of the Mojave Desert Land Trust asked that Cyrus “remove this photo from her social media accounts in order to educate others and to prevent potential damage to Joshua trees,” The Desert Sun reported.

Cyrus has not yet responded to the criticism on Instagram or Twitter.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated.

This story was originally published April 3, 2019 at 11:19 AM with the headline "‘Don’t do this.’ Backlash blossoms after Miley Cyrus posts photos posing in Joshua tree."