Why Sinéad O'Connor Matters by Allyson McCabe

The word Pesci says next is “eyebrows”-meant to insult her shaved head-but it doesn’t take much, thanks to Donald Trump, to imagine him saying another word. Read my book for the full breakdown-but for now, I want to draw your attention to one week later, when guest host Joe Pesci used his monologue to attack O’Connor, bragging that if he were hosting that episode he would have “gave her such a smack” and “grabbed her by the. Her actions were hurtful to some, and offensive to many, but there was so much going on that night that the public didn’t see or know, from what inspired O’Connor’s decision to cover “War” to choosing to destroy a photo that once belonged to her mother to the fact that she was right about the Catholic Church. Staring down the camera lens, O’Connor sustained the word “evil,” ripped the photo, and proclaimed, “Fight the Real Enemy!” She then left the stage, providing no further explanation. The problem was, the world wasn’t ready to hear her message and she didn’t do a great job of delivering it.ĭuring the dress rehearsal O’Connor told SNL producers that she intended to perform Bob Marley’s “War.” At showtime, she changed some of the lyrics to address the evils of child abuse, and paused briefly at the end to hold up the photo of the pope.

In destroying a photo of Pope John Paul II, O’Connor didn’t mean to attack the man, or the faith, but to draw attention to the child abuse crisis brewing in the Catholic Church and the Church’s complicity in the silencing of victims. So much has been said about this moment, much of it dead wrong.

Why Sinéad O'Connor Matters by Allyson McCabe