Sinéad O’Connor’s premature death on the age of 56 last week has spurred memories of each her eclectic profession in addition to her most controversial moments.
One contentious event infamously occurred in 1992 when the “Nothing Compares 2 U” singer appeared on “Saturday Night Live” and proceeded to tear up a photograph of Pope John Paul II in protest of kid sex abuse rampant within the Catholic Church.
Fast forward to the following week when actor Joe Pesci criticized the Irish songstress during his own appearance.
A video clip of the “Goodfellas” star’s “SNL” 1992 monologue has now resurfaced following her passing.
“Before we start the show, there’s a little bit matter I wanna clear up. There was an incident on the show last week,” the Oscar winner, 80, said as he held up the photograph to the audience.
He continued: “Sinead O’Connor tore up an image of the Pope, and I assumed that was flawed, so I asked someone to stick it back together.”
“I mean why should I let it trouble me, right? It wasn’t my show,” he went on. “But I’ll let you know one thing, she was very lucky it wasn’t my show, because if it was my show, I’d have gave her such a smack.”
He then proceeded to say that he would have “grabbed her by her eyebrows.”
Pesci’s past response has garnered backlash from social media users, who got here to O’Connor’s defense.
“She was more brave, and more right, than she ever got credit for,” someone penned on X, formerly referred to as Twitter.
“Now could be time for Joe Pesci and SNL to issue an apology for that monologue where they joked about beating her up,” an individual tweeted.
One other user chimed in: “Glad i’m not the just one who remembers the AWFUL set Joe Pesci did on SNL threatening to harm Sinead O’Connor over the photo rip. shows how extreme the hate Sinead got from all media despite her being right. At the same time as a child i wondered why the gang was cheering SNL for this crap.”
O’Connor’s performance on the NBC sketch show caused her to be banned from the series and led other celebrities to call her out on her stance.
In response to the Latest York Times, Madonna blasted O’Connor in an interview.
“I feel there’s a greater method to present her ideas slightly than ripping up a picture which means so much to other people. If she’s against the Roman Catholic Church and she or he has an issue with them I feel she should discuss it,” the “Material Girl” singer said.
“I feel you could have to do greater than denigrate a logo.”
