OH. MILEY. GOD - Viewers left feeling 'violated' after Cyrus' X-rated MTV VMA performance

THERE'S awards ceremony shock value and then there's Miley Cyrus.

The 20-year-old singer took raunchy performances to a whole new cringe-worthy level at the MTV Video Music Awards today shocking fans with an explicit display of tongue-wagging, twerking and grinding.

While the singer has been keen to shed her teen sweetheart image, we'd like to think there are other ways of doing it.

Cyrus, who was on stage to perform her latest single We Can't Stop first entered the stage from inside a giant teddy bear in a tiny one-piece.

Thrusting her tongue out at the audience as if she's been struck down with a case of rabies, the performance only got more bizarre from there.

Surrounded by a gaggle of dancing care bears the star then hip-thrusted and gyrated her way around the stage, provocatively gesturing towards her crotch at regular intervals.

Pulling moves that should only be seen in a really bad poo, the star tued it up a notch when Robin Thicke entered the stage to perform a duet of his single Blurred Lines.

Miley Cyrus “twerks” against Robin Thicke and right, on stage. Picture: Supplied

And just when you thought her outfit couldn't get any skimpier, Cyrus ripped off the garment to dance around in her undies with an oversized foam hand reminiscent of the Coles "Down, Down" adverts.

Cyrus then danced around Thicke in her "underwear" before twerking on his crotch and rubbing her "Coles" foam finger across his privates.

Naturally, Twitter exploded immediately after the performance, with many expressing their disgust at her racy display.

Stars including Rihanna and One Direction looked on as bewildered as most of the audience.

The reaction of Will Smith's family summed up what most were thinking as they shielded their eyes and dropped their jaws.

Will Smith and his family had the exact same reaction as this newsroom. Picture: Supplied

But the performance, however shocking, wasn't entirely unexpected.

Speaking with MTV before the show, Cyrus promised a "crazier" VMA moment than the infamous Britney and Madonna lip lock of 2003 and boy did we get it.

Just one more time: Things just go from bad to worse. CANNOT UNSEE. Picture: AP

"We've got better in store for you guys, it's going be even crazier than the kiss," she declared.

"This is just the beginning of my movement."

Hold onto your hats folks, if this is just the start, we're not sure we really want to see what else Miley has in store.