It seems a certain twerking pop-star has once again found herself in the media spotlight after fellow singer Sinead O’Connor warns about the harsh, harsh world of music. Feeling lost? Here’s the low-down of (nearly) everything that’s happened so far.
Last August Miley Cyrus shocked the world by performing a pretty risky set at the MTV VMAs dressed as, well, a sexy bear. Twerking to ‘We Can’t Stop’ seemed bad enough, but it was her performance with the already controversial Robin Thicke while straddling a huge foam finger that got the audience riled up. Since then, the media has been in a kind of obsessed delirium running around the world asking ‘what the hell is Miley doing with her life?’.
It’s no surprise then that several celebrities have offered their words of wisdom and/or criticism to the girl who was once famous for being the beacon of innocence Hannah Montana, with Liam Payne from 1D saying “It was cute… timid” (cough), and stand-up comedian Bill Maher tweeting “Watching VMAs. Haven’t been in a strip club in a while, but good to see nothing has changed”. Witty, Maher.
Will Smith and his family sum up the public’s response to the night.
The most surprising development, however, has been Cyrus and O’Connor’s somewhat aggressive interaction since Cyrus claimed that O’Connor was an “inspiration” for both her style (shaved heads, I guess…) and her music video for ‘Wrecking Ball’. Cyrus said “I wanted [Wrecking Ball] to be tough but really pretty. That’s what Sinead did with her hair and everything.”
O’Connor attempted to warn Cyrus about the horrors of the music industry.
After reporters and fans lept on her for an opinion of the comparison, O’Connor quickly addressed the relentlessly twerking pop star in an open letter put on her website. Bar all the swearing, the main gist of the letter was to warn Cyrus about the dangers of the music industry:
“The music business doesn’t give a sh*t about you, or any of us. They will prostitute you for all you are worth, and cleverly make you think its what YOU wanted.. and when you end up in rehab as a result of being prostituted, ‘they’ will be sunning themselves on their yachts in Antigua, which they bought by selling your body and you will find yourself very alone.” (read the whole thing here)
O’Connor’s attempts at writing “in the spirit of motherliness” were kind of dashed when Cyrus joked about O’Connor’s past mental health issues and compared her to Amanda Bynes, who is currently undergoing psychiatric treatment. Cyrus posted a screenshot of what appears to be Sinead’s tweets about her bipolar disorder in 2012 (the account name in the image isn’t Sinead’s account, be warned):
Before Amanda Bynes…. There was…. pic.twitter.com/6JZPVnunPc
— Miley Ray Cyrus (@MileyCyrus) October 3, 2013
Somehow I don’t think Cyrus really discovered the true message of the open letter, but hey ho.
Adding another lengthy open letter to her canon, O’Connor threatened a law-suit against Cyrus for the sensitive Tweets:
“You have posted today tweets of mine which are two years old, which were posted by me when I was unwell and seeking help so as to make them look like they are recent. […] In doing so you mock myself and Amanda Bynes for having suffered with mental health issues and for having sought help”
“Have you no sense of danger at all? or responsibility? Remove your tweets immediately or you will hear from my lawyers. I am certain you will be hearing from all manner of mental health advocacy groups also. It is not acceptable to mock any person for having suffered.”
Cyrus has since claimed she’s too busy to write a letter back, and O’Connor has rejected her offers to meet up and talk it out. Thus, three open letters, a threat of a lawsuit, and a torrent of angry Tweets later, the children of the internet are crouched at their computers eagerly anticipating the next move. Cyrus put a “:)” at the end of her last tweet to O’Connor so we’ll see how that one pans out.
I think that’s pretty much the whole fiasco covered so far.
PS. Apparently you can buy a ‘Twerking Figurine’ with a wiggling bum for £29.95 here. It’s terrifying so I won’t post a picture.
