Los Angeles - BBC - Pop star Miley Cyrus has hit back at Sinead O’Connor, after the Irish singer warned her not to be exploited by the music business.
In a series of tweets, Cyrus mocked O’Connor, comparing her to US actress Amanda Bynes before alluding to O’Connor’s mental health problems. O’Connor responded with another open letter to the singer, accusing her of “irresponsible” behaviour. The Irish singer told her to “remove her tweets immediately”. The tit-for-tat conversation began after Cyrus, 20, cited O’Connor’s video Nothing Compares 2 U as an inspiration for her explicit Wrecking Ball video. O’Connor, 46, said she was prompted to write, “in the spirit of motherliness” after “dodging phone calls from various newspapers” who wanted the singer-songwriter to comment upon similarities between the two videos.
In the video for Nothing Compares 2 U, O’Connor sheds a single tear as she performs the Prince-penned break-up ballad. Cyrus cries in the promo clip for Wrecking Ball, which shares similar lyrical themes to O’Connor’s song.
O’Connor said she was “extremely concerned” that those around Cyrus had led or encouraged her to believe “that it is in any way ‘cool’ to be naked in your videos”.
Cyrus, who found fame as the child star of Disney children’s show Hannah Montana, has been criticised in recent weeks for her controversial performances, particularly at the MTV Video Music Awards in Brooklyn last month.
Responding on Twitter, Cyrus wrote: “Top of the mornin to ya.” She added a screen shot of O’Connor’s tweets from 2012 in which the Irish star, who has bi-polar disorder, referred to her own mental health problems, asking for Twitter followers to recommend a psychiatrist.