Haven't seen it yet? Take a look here:
As iVillage US writer Donna Kaufman says: "We expected the twerking, even though it's getting old. The teddy bears were a little nightmarish, but whatever. The really disturbing thing was Miley herself. She spent half the performance sticking out her tongue, then the other half making obscene gestures: grabbing her crotch, molesting a dancer's butt, grinding aggressively against Robin Thicke, even suggestively sucking a foam finger. It was like she'd just read an eHow article called "How to Act Sexy." It was so, so awkward."
Even Miley's former TV mum on Hannah Montana, Brooke Shields, has weighed in, branding the provocative performance as "desperate".
The 48-year-old joked on the Today show: "I was Hannah Montana's mother! Where did I go wrong?"
Then, on a more serious note: "I just want to know who's advising her, and why [the racy display] is necessary.... [Our children] can't watch that."
On MSNBC, Mika Brzezinski said: "That young lady, who is 20, is obviously deeply troubled, deeply disturbed. Probably has confidence issues, probably an eating disorder. And I don't think anybody should have put her up on stage. That was disgusting."
Real Time host Bill Maher tweeted: "Haven't been in a strip club in awhile, but good to see nothing has changed."
The Parents Television Council issued a statement from director of public policy Dan Isett that said: "MTV has once again succeeded in marketing sexually charged messages to young children using former child stars and condom commercials -- while falsely rating this program as appropriate for kids as young as 14. This is unacceptable."
As embarrassing as it was to watch Miley's performance on TV - and shield your children's eyes if they happened to walk into the room - it was even worse watching it from the audience. How do we know? From the looks on these celebrities' faces:
Rihanna was seriously unimpressed. Harry Styles and the rest of One Direction did not find it sexy:
Drake kept his head down and waited it out:
So, yeah. Basically, that performance was the epitome of Miley trying way too hard to lose her Disney image. The real problem is that Miley's overnight transformation from country-pop sweetheart to weed-smoking ratchet girl is still giving us all whiplash. It seems so forced, so out of line with everything that came before. And frankly, it's uncomfortable to watch her appropriate a culture that she so obviously knows nothing about. It just contributes to the impression that nothing about Miley is authentic anymore.
Then again, has Miley ever been authentic? Her teen-idol image certainly wasn't. Looking at the audience reaction Sunday night, there was a clear vibe of "Who does this girl think she is?" Obviously, she really doesn't know. And neither do we.
What do you think about Miley's performance? Are people taking it all too seriously or has the singer gone too far?