Posted in: NBC, Opinion, streaming, TV, TV | Tagged: Catholic Church, nbc, opinion, saturday night live, Sinead O'Connor, snl

Sinéad O'Connor Helped Saturday Night Live Remember Its Protest Roots

On October 3, 1992, Sinéad O'Connor reminded NBC's Saturday Night Live that it still had some 70s rebelliousness left in the SNL gas tank.

With the news of the passing of Irish singer & musician Sinéad O'Connor at the age of 56 hitting online earlier today, millions of people around the world are revisiting & reflecting on the Irish singer & musician's life and career. And with that examination taking place, it's near-impossible not to revisit NBC's Saturday Night Live from October 3, 1992. With Tim Robbins (Bull Durham) hosting – and concerns already in play that Robbins would wear a t-shirt speaking out against NBC's then-parent company, General Electric – O'Connor took to the stage of Studio 8H to perform an a cappella cover of Bob Marley's "War" but with changes to reflect her speaking out against the sexual abuse of children that had taken place over generations within the Catholic Church. Unfortunately, O'Connor's message would be lost on many  – as their focus shifted from O'Connor's message to the way that she finished her performance.

Presenting to the camera a photo of Pope John Paul II while singing the word "Evil," O'Connor would tear up the image before adding, "Fight the real enemy" and tossing the torn pieces towards the camera. And that would ignite a firestorm of backlash from average folks as well as famous faces such as Frank Sinatra, MC Hammer, Joe Pesci, and Madonna – who saw the gesture as an attack on The Pope and the church and not as the symbolic act it was meant to be to shine a light on systemic child abuse taking place in the name of (and in some instances, in the house of) God. "Lorne [Michaels] was the only one that didn't seem like completely out of his mind," John Zonars, SNL's music coordinator, revealed about show creator Lorne Michaels about the incident in Tom Shales & James Andrew Miller's book, Live From New York! And though reruns of the episode since 2016 only include footage from the dress rehearsal, the original broadcast was shown to the west coast as originally aired, and Michaels went forward with having O'Connor join the cast at the end of the episode for the big goodbye (Zonars: "Lorne decided that she should, which is a decision that he got fucked for afterward but I'm sure would stand by today").

Sadly, it would take another nine years before Pope John Paul II would publically acknowledge the rampant and long-running abuse going on within the Catholic Church system – stories of which are still surfacing to this day. And while some may argue about the approach that O'Connor took to get the message across, her efforts were in the best interest of those who had no one speaking out for them – efforts that got a conversation started that resulted in some horrific & heartbreaking truths being exposed. And O'Connor would make it clear over the years that she had no regrets over her effort. "Hell, no!" she responded during a 2002 interview with Salon. Nineteen years later, in her 2021 book Rememberings, O'Connor would add that what she did was also about being true to who she was as an artist: "Everyone wants a pop star, see? But I am a protest singer. I just had stuff to get off my chest. I had no desire for fame." But what Sinéad O'Connor did do on that night in October of 1992 was remind Michaels & SNL of the rebelliousness that they brought to late-night back in the 70s – and how it was still very much needed.

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