Was The Miley Cyrus Bare Breast Photo Shoot A Publicity Retaliation To Sinead O’Connor For ‘Prostitute’ Letter?

If Miley Cyrus read the impassioned open letter Sinead O’Connor penned to her this afternoon, begging her not to let others “prostitute” her or exploit her youth and beauty, she certainly seemed to have an adverse reaction to it. Just hours after O’Connor issued a plea begging Cyrus to reconsider sending “the message that you are to be valued … more for your sexual appeal than your obvious talent,” Terry Richardson published a risqué new photoshoot of the “twerk queen” exposing her breasts and posing in a red thong unitard.

In keeping with Richardson’s other shoots, Cyrus posed for the photographer in a range of provocative poses reminiscent of her controversial VMA performance: grabbing her groin in a cut-out leotard, cupping one breast in a see-through blouse and tugging down on black leather pants, and sticking her tongue out while exposing a nipple for the camera in nothing but lace leggings.

Cyrus seemed to direct the photos as a response at O’Connor. On Thursday, hours after O’Connor’s letter to her went viral, she retweeted a parody of Sinead O’Connor along with the caption “Before Amanda Bynes … There was …” She then retweeted two of Richardson’s newest photos of her, and less than an hour later, a screenshot of Sinead O’Connor tearing up a photograph of the Pope in her infamous "SNL" appearance.

The Twitter rant seemed to echo a comment Cyrus recently made in an interview for her MTV special, “Miley: The Moment,” in which she fended off criticism of her shocking VMA performance.

“You can watch that performance at the VMAs and people could think it’s just a hot mess, but it’s a strategic hot mess,” Cyrus said. “Right now, I’m a point in my career when I can be exactly who I want to be. I just want to like have fun and not think about any repercussions.”

“How many times have we seen this play out in pop music? Madonna’s done it, Britney’s done it, every VMA performance. Anyone that performs, that’s what you’re looking for,” Cyrus added. “If I really wanted to come out and do, like, a raunchy sex show, I wouldn’t have been dressed as a damn bear.”