Miley's fake 'overdose shocker' fools fans

Miley Cyrus as she appears in her controversial new music video. Photo/Rollingstone.com

In another act of poor judgment from Miley Cyrus, the pop singer has appeared in a provocative short film lying on a bed in a drug-induced coma.

In the trippy NSFW flick, Cyrus is seen passed out with an open bottle of pills strewn across the bed in front of her face.

Take40.com interpreted it as a drug overdose in their headline, while the front page of The Daily Star led with an image of Cyrus from the clip and the headline "Miley Cyrus in Overdose Shocker".

The BBC UK tweeted the headline would appear on the front of the Daily Star and some responses on Twitter have assumed it's real or criticised the paper.

"I'm neither shocked nor surprised that #MileyCyrus has had an overdose. I think we all saw that one coming. I hope she's ok, though," @RigsbyMusic said.

@UmairM94 was a little more forward: "No one cares," he tweeted, while @TheGlamourGuy criticised Cyrus herself, tweeting "Miley: It's not cool to glamorise a drug overdose. Just ask Frances Bean."

Others cleared up the confusion or questioned the misleading headline.

"WTF thats from a music video im screaming wise up," @sophiendrws tweeted.

""MILEY CYRUS IN OVERDOSE SHOCKER!" aka "Miley Cyrus has a slightly distasteful video and hasn't overdosed at all," @WL--Martin said.

The short film, which features full-frontal nudity and drug use, stars The Flaming Lips (including singer Wayne Coyne who Cyrus got a matching tattoo with) and Moby.

Called Blonde SuperFreak Steals The Magic Brain, Cyrus ironically filmed her part in April this year - the same time there were rumours circulating she had actually had a drug overdose after cancelling five dates of her US Bangerz tour.

In fact, she was sick thanks to a bad reaction to antibiotics, which were prescribed to treat a sinus infection.

Coyne explained the situation to Rolling Stone.

"We were lucky enough to get a couple of hours with a bedridden Miley Cyrus. And even though she was still quite ill, she was full of laughs and great absurd suggestions," he said.

* Watch the video here (warning: explicit content).

- AAP