How Sinéad O’Connor blew up her profession by ripping the pope on ‘SNL’

Sinéad O’Connor — who died Wednesday on the age of 56 — shocked the world when she ripped up an image of Pope John Paul II on “Saturday Night time Dwell” in 1992.

The transfer, which unfolded as she sang an a cappella model of Bob Marley’s once-banned tune “Warfare,” acquired her barred from NBC for all times and booed off the stage at a Bob Dylan tribute live performance a couple of weeks later.

She initially stated tearing up the picture was to protest the Catholic Church and “battle the actual enemy” amid little one intercourse abuse scandals, however the stunt had a a lot deeper that means, which the singer detailed in her memoir, “Rememberings.”

“My intention had at all times been to destroy my mom’s picture of the pope,” she wrote. “It represented lies and liars and abuse. The kind of individuals who saved these items have been devils like my mom.”

O’Connor recalled visiting her mom’s residence after her dying and taking a photograph of the pope off her wall — which she stated was “the one picture she ever had up there.”

“I by no means knew when or the place or how I’d destroy it, however destroy it I’d when the precise second got here,” she wrote.

O’Connor, who was raised Roman Catholic, stated she by no means regretted tearing up the {photograph}, nor did she care about being ostracized.

“I come from a convention of Irish artists the place I’m principally involved with affecting my society,” O’Connor told the LA Times in 2012.

She added, “Artists are purported to act as an emergency hearth service with regards to non secular battle — not preaching or telling individuals what to do however being somewhat gentle that tells us that there’s a spirit world.”

O’Connor reportedly tore a web page from one other artist’s guide for her “SNL” protest.

The photo-tearing stunt was seemingly impressed by Bob Geldof, who shredded a photograph of Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta in 1978 whereas performing with the Boomtown Rats on “High of the Pops.”

Geldof, now 71, was allegedly making a commentary on his band’s single, “Rat Lure,” pushing Newton-John and Travolta’s hit “Grease” tune “Summer season Nights” from the highest spot after a seven-week reign.