Not directly related to the film industry — or is it? From The Guardian, via @filmclassics, the full text of Sinead O’Connor’s open letter to Miley Cyrus.
Dear Miley,
I wasn’t going to write this letter, but today i’ve been dodging phone calls from various newspapers who wished me to remark upon your having said in Rolling Stone your Wrecking Ball video was designed to be similar to the one for Nothing Compares … So this is what I need to say … And it is said in the spirit of motherliness and with love.
I am extremely concerned for you that those around you have led you to believe, or encouraged you in your own belief, that it is in any way ‘cool’ to be naked and licking sledgehammers in your videos. It is in fact the case that you will obscure your talent by allowing yourself to be pimped, whether its the music business or yourself doing the pimping.
Nothing but harm will come in the long run, from allowing yourself to be exploited, and it is absolutely NOT in ANY way an empowerment of yourself or any other young women, for you to send across the message that you are to be valued (even by you) more for your sexual appeal than your obvious talent.
I am happy to hear I am somewhat of a role model for you and I hope that because of that you will pay close attention to what I am telling you.
The music business doesn’t give a shit 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.
None of the men ogling you give a shit about you either, do not be fooled. Many’s the woman mistook lust for love. If they want you sexually that doesn’t mean they give a fuck about you. All the more true when you unwittingly give the impression you don’t give much of a fuck about yourself. And when you employ people who give the impression they don’t give much of a fuck about you either. No one who cares about you could support your being pimped … and that includes you yourself.
Yes, I’m suggesting you don’t care for yourself. That has to change. You ought be protected as a precious young lady by anyone in your employ and anyone around you, including you. This is a dangerous world. We don’t encourage our daughters to walk around naked in it because it makes them prey for animals and less than animals, a distressing majority of whom work in the music industry and it’s associated media.
You are worth more than your body or your sexual appeal. The world of showbiz doesn’t see things that way, they like things to be seen the other way, whether they are magazines who want you on their cover, or whatever … Don’t be under any illusions … ALL of them want you because they’re making money off your youth and your beauty … which they could not do except for the fact your youth makes you blind to the evils of show business. If you have an innocent heart you can’t recognise those who do not.
I repeat, you have enough talent that you don’t need to let the music business make a prostitute of you. You shouldn’t let them make a fool of you either. Don’t think for a moment that any of them give a flying fuck about you. They’re there for the money… we’re there for the music. It has always been that way and it will always be that way. The sooner a young lady gets to know that, the sooner she can be REALLY in control.
You also said in Rolling Stone that your look is based on mine. The look I chose, I chose on purpose at a time when my record company were encouraging me to do what you have done. I felt I would rather be judged on my talent and not my looks. I am happy that I made that choice, not least because I do not find myself on the proverbial rag heap now that I am almost 47 yrs of age … which unfortunately many female artists who have based their image around their sexuality, end up on when they reach middle age.
Real empowerment of yourself as a woman would be to in future refuse to exploit your body or your sexuality in order for men to make money from you. I needn’t even ask the question … I’ve been in the business long enough to know that men are making more money than you are from you getting naked. Its really not at all cool. And its sending dangerous signals to other young women. Please in future say no when you are asked to prostitute yourself. Your body is for you and your boyfriend. It isn’t for every spunk-spewing dirtbag on the net, or every greedy record company executive to buy his mistresses diamonds with.
As for the shedding of the Hannah Montana image … whoever is telling you getting naked is the way to do that does absolutely NOT respect your talent, or you as a young lady. Your records are good enough for you not to need any shedding of Hannah Montana. She’s waaaaaaay gone by now … Not because you got naked but because you make great records.
Whether we like it or not, us females in the industry are role models and as such we have to be extremely careful what messages we send to other women. The message you keep sending is that its somehow cool to be prostituted … its so not cool Miley … its dangerous. Women are to be valued for so much more than their sexuality. We aren’t merely objects of desire. I would be encouraging you to send healthier messages to your peers … that they and you are worth more than what is currently going on in your career. Kindly fire any motherfucker who hasn’t expressed alarm, because they don’t care about you.
As posted on www.sineadoconnor.com
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Update. I’m too embarrassed for Miley to add this extension to the main post. She’s making it worse.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/ailbhemalone/the-miley-cyrus-vs-sinead-oconnor-feud-is-getting-nasty
Gosh, I just admire the way Miley is able to pick the american brains. She basically trolls them all. It’s funny how unaware the majority of them are.
If only Americans were as concerned about Sky Ferreira, the music business and drugs, for instance. Silly double-standard…
She ripped that photo to protest the Catholic Church’s non-response to charges of widespread child molestation. 20 years later, we’ve all caught up with that news. She was ahead of the curve then, very brave and paid an huge price for it.Her latest album, by the way, is absolutely fantastic. (dean volker)
I hope for all your sakes that your daughters turn out to be just like Sinead O’Connor. 🙂 I really truly do.
Well, if I had my choice between the two….
God Bless You O’Connor!
Reading that just gave me chills. Wow!!!!! If I ever have a daughter she is going to commit this statement to memory.
So what I learned from Miley’s response to this letter is that when one of your inspirations reaches out to you to say something that she thinks is important, you insult her by mocking her mental illness. Okay, then.
She’s in for a rude awakening, and I’m not sure if anyone will be able to help her out of it.
Your girlfriend is now suing Miley for retweeting. http://tv.yahoo.com/news/sin-ad-calls-miley-twitter-bullying-235700041.html
I didn’t know retweeting was illegal anywhere. I’ve retweeted so many times without even thinking about it. I think all of us retweeters should lawyer up.
God, I fucking hate Miley Cyrus. What a stupid fucking bitch. Have you seen her response to this wonderful letter?
http://popwatch.ew.com/2013/10/03/miley-cyrus-sinead-oconnor-twitter/
Classy, real fucking classy. You deserve everything coming to you, Miley.
off topic post/thread is essential.thanks…
i hope these sort of swerves become more common on a.d. 🙂
Awesome letter! I couldn’t agree with her more, Miley is going down a road that doesn’t end well. She was here filming are movie a couple years ago, and friends of mine had personal contact with her, her dad, and her little sister. They said she was terribly rude, and her dad was so ignorant it was shocking.
Sinead, keep your nose out of it.
Miley, do what you wanna, bitch! We love you!
Who the hell is “we”? Leave me out of it.
P.S. Miley can disagree with the advice Sinead is giving her but she doesn’t have to make fun of her mental illness to do it.
You were never in it. I’ll let you know when you’re in TY.
Well said, M1. Maybe a more mature girl would’ve left mental illness out of her jabs.
Latest individual to be Punk’d by Miley’s shocking acts
I still listen to ‘I Do Not Want…’ because it is a remarkable CD. Sinead did get the shaft for speaking her beliefs. I highly doubt that anybody will be listening to Miley Cyrus in 25 years (unless she can create a masterpiece.) Straighten out your act, girl! Your behavior is disgraceful.
you can pretty much apply the will anyone in 25 years thing to all current big radio.i doubt miley and the rest with a big media profile are even 3% concerned with this.and you know her audience isn’t concerned with this either…
however with what these ‘hit makers’ do/they probably shouldn’t worry about that at all…
tom better question what music circa *now* will better appreciated /get’s it due will be considered important/influential/become part of the music ‘classic’ thing get canon type status that most people with don’t give damn about or know of now ???
what music from 25 years ago would you apply that to ???
miley, could do a masterpiece for her ‘genre’..but i’m sure miley and big radio fans idea of what makes a masterpiece.is much different from yours. 😉
Sinead found a way to get her sorry ass back in the headlines did she? And I thought she had retired to become a psychotic priest. Never has there been a bigger media whore.
Um… She had a reson to maifest herself and that is quite clear in the post. If you had read it before spewing your inappropriate and irrelevant hatred, you wouldn’t be asking such a moronic rethroical question.
As I stated above, she’s been putting out good to great music for a couple of decades now. And it was Miley Cyrus that mentioned her.
O’Connor’s actually become extremely wise as she gets older, you can see it in her lyrics. She’s she still that emotionally damaged young woman at times, but she’s stronger, way stronger, than she was back then. She’s a woman that’s chosen to believe in something and stand behind it. I applaud her.
She’s a little cuckoo, but that’s why we love her! And that sentence could apply to both Sinead O’Connor and Antoinette, in case you’re wondering…
@Ryan,
I enjoy reading articles and embeddings featured in this site — that’s why I come here on regular basis. Speaking for myself, this kind of entertainment-related OT is good for a change and I love music and everything about (around) it; so, in general OT like this kind should be a treat.
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Oddly enough, if I’m not mistaken, the mentor reportedly at times had had her share of allegedly causing troubles herself.
But matter-of-factly speaking, her remarks made in the spirit of motherliness and with love, […], not to mention herself an #experienced# mentor in the industry herself to whom Cyrus reportedly seems to look up, O’Connor’s kind words should not be overlooked by the latter. There are some grains of truth in there no matter who the messenger is.
Anyway, loved that pop album she — the mentor – did back then. [you know which one […] if you were a fan]
Um, there’s a big difference between making a political statement by tearing up a photo of the Pope and humping a giant foam finger onstage.
Good for Sinead – hopefully she can keep Miley from advancing to ping pong balls.
I think she also spanked some giant teddy bears not to mention possible other unthinkables…poor bears.
@Steve50,
I know what you are talking about re the SNL incident, and so could see your point.
And I was not saying they both of them were exactly the same in terms of projecting the onstage image of being, well — let me put it this way — excitable.
I was just referring to the seemingly overall kick-ups image on the Irish mentor’s part back then in addition to that infamous SNL episode. Moreover, I understand that O’Connor also reportedly has had her own problem(s) to deal with, (reportedly) including the recent bouts of nervous breakdown(?) that cost her own tour cancellations(?) — last year(?).
Etc.
I was #not# trying to chew her out for her niceties (here); I was simply pointing out that this is far from Mother Mary coming to her and speaking words of wisdom, and this is definitely far from dog and butterfly, Yin and Yang, etc. Just my own observation….
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Cyrus might or might not know what she’s been doing. (Or she might be in fact smarter than many people assume her to be….) But at least, if this nice gesture by O’Connor is genuine, then it’s certainly a good thing for the young bird. I was just pointing out that O’Connor also had had her own #good# time riding her own rollercoaster as well. [Sorry for blabbering]
Miley is hosting SNL on Saturday by the way. Obvs they’ll address the Mileygate but I wonder if they’ll somehow refer to Sinead’s plea. Maybe during weekend update or smth.
Wishing someone had it upped on ’Tube [lol]….
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(I’m in my mid-30s (only). But I am going to use the word “kids” for effect.)
I am not really listening to her music. But in a sense, today’s kids are smarter than those (teens) in my own time; so I am going to give her the benefit of doubt: I mean, she might be smarter than many people assume her to be. All the best.
Person to person, I am just hoping she — the younger one — knows what she’s doing. (O’Connor definitely spoke the truth in her open letter.)
I have my bachelor party in Atlantic City this Saturday night…I know what me and my friends are doing when we’re drunk! Watching Miley Cyrus twerk it all up on Seth and Cecily!
How cool! Hope you can hit the beach and enjoy indian summer!
SNL Promo:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfF6bqr2rWY
Hopefully the show will be funnier…
Great letter Sinead!
Miley has made so much more dough from Hannah Montana than she will ever get strutting around naked. She could’ve retired from show business when she turned 18 and spend the rest of her life trying to count all her money, have a family, get involved in charities, be a socialite or smth. How cool is that? Why she feels the need to strip down and reinvent herself in the crudest way possible is beyond my understanding. Makes one wonder if it’s not her entourage or managers pushing her to pursue a music career at all costs.
Awesome! I’ve always loved Sinead O’Connor, from her very first album to her most recent. And her “I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got” is easily one of the best CDs of the last 25 or so years. It’s a shame she got shunned because of that SNL incident, especially since history is showing that what she did was brave and, most importantly, accurate.
Don’t give a shit about Miley Cyrus, but she would be smart to listen.
I’m glad to see Sinead speaking up, as she is extremely talented and has dealt with her own demons. In particular, she has admitted that she has struggled with bipolar disorder, and tries to help others dealing with that medical condition. The SNL incident took place before she was diagnosed accurately, and since then she has apologized, stating that “It was a disrespectful thing to do.” I hope Sinead remains in good health, and that Miley listens to her advice.