Sinéad O'Connor on Saturday Night Live

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On October 3, 1992, the Irish singer-songwriter Sinéad O'Connor appeared as the musical guest on the American live television sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live (SNL). While performing a rendition of Bob Marley's 1976 song "War", she staged a protest against the Catholic Church. O'Connor held a photograph of Pope John Paul II in front of the camera, ripped it up, said "fight the real enemy", and threw the pieces of the photograph onto the floor. In an interview a few weeks after the performance, O'Connor said she held the Catholic Church responsible for physical, sexual and emotional abuse she had suffered as a child. She also said that the Church had destroyed "entire races of people", and that Catholic priests had been beating and sexually abusing children for years. O'Connor's performance took place nine years before John Paul II publicly acknowledged child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. The protest triggered thousands of complaints from viewers. It attracted criticism from...

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