Saturday Night Live alum Rob Schneider has recalled the immediate impact Sinead O’Connor’s infamous political stunt had on the show’s studio audience.
In 1992, the late Irish singer, shocked America and the rest of the world after she tore up a photo of Pope John Paul II live on the popular comedy sketch show. “Fight the real enemy,” she said while staring directly into the camera.
The move, which was a protest against the sexual abuse of children in the Catholic Church, led to a huge and lengthy backlash – something O’Connor herself reflected on in her 2021 memoir, Rememberings.
Thirty years later, on the day of O’Connor’s death (26 July) at age 56, comedian Schneider, 59, paid tribute to the “gentle and lovely” artist, recounting one of her stand-out moments.
“Though I didn’t see it happen. It was an episode where I was very busy (in a lot of sketches) and there are moves that performers have where they know they can get laughs,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
“Anyway, I was backstage in quick change (getting dressed for the next sketch) and I didn’t know anything had happened.”
Schneider continued: “I came out and during the next sketch, I just felt the audience had changed. My usual physical moves that got laughs fell silent. No sketches got laughs after that. And the rest of the night was eerily quiet.”
The Hot Chick star was an SNL writer and cast member from 1988 to 1994.
He said that it wasn’t until “after the show that I had learned that Sinead had tore up a picture of the pope”. “I didn’t realise at the time that it would be a big controversy,” he added.
Recounting spending time with O’Connor at the show’s afterparty, Schneider said: “She was gentle and lovely and didn’t seem to have a worry about anything. We laughed about a few things trying to understand each other’s accents and had a drink and she could not have been lovelier.
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“All these years later you realise that fame and all that it comes with is very destructive to gentle souls. It is my sincere hope that the peace that eluded Sinead in life she can have now, resting in God’s embrace.”
O’Connor was pelted with eggs, booed during live shows and promptly banned for life by broadcaster NBC for her actions.
At the time, Goodfellas actor Joe Pesci claimed he would’ve “slapped” the singer for her behaviour. He’s since been condemned for his “vile” and “hideous” comments.
