Back in October 1992, Sinead ripped up the picture of Pope John Paul on Saturday Night Live as a protest against the Catholic church’s sexual abuse. Back then, she was mocked, booed, harrassed and rididuled. Knowing what we know now about the Catholic church’s sex abuse conspiracy, is Sinead owed an apology? Did we fight the wrong enemy back then?
I’ve thought she was owed an apology from the second she was slammed. I remember watching that ep and being rather pissed that Susan Sarandon (who was in the audience) didn’t start the applause (Sinead got left out to dry by the audience, helped along in part by NBC’s not lighting the APPLAUSE sign after the song). It’s not like the sex abuse was some secret back when she brought it up. I never quite understood why people acted so shocked when the story hit the news the last time; I remember hearing about it decades before.
And Joe Peschi, who when he hosted the following week threatened to beat Sinead should he ever meet her, ought to be the first in line to beg her forgiveness. I never really cared for Peschi before that; following that I had absolutely no use for him whatever.
No kidding. I remember this being common knowledge at least all my life. It surprised me when it became such a big deal all of a sudden - was this news to some people?
An apology from whom? The people in the audience (or later at MSG) who booed her?
Folks aren’t entitled to have an opinion about the manner in which she chose to express her opinion?
I would distinguish betweeing booing/jeering and what Peschi did FWIW.
Do you have some contemporaneous evidence that O’Connor was protesting sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic church?
I didn’t see the incident and don’t know anything about her motives, but I suspect the audience weren’t clear either.
Regards,
Shodan
I remember back then there were whole communities who bulldozed her CD’s and Frank Sinatra threatened her life. She was booed at various concerts. People are entitled to their opinions but I believe public figures threatening her life crossed the line. Sinatra is dead and Pesci isn’t. Maybe VH-1 could do some Behind the Music retrospective? Pesci might be so desperate for some publicity, he would apologize.
It may not have been happening in the US when the incident happened but remember she’s Irish and was very familiar with what was happening here. She and others had protested on Irish TV before she did this.
Little did we know then that the cases that were known about then was a mere tip of a very big iceberg.
She was a bit vague…however (cite )
I’ll also note…
If SHE is apologizing for doing it…I’m still a bit confused at why the folks who booed her are supposed to apologize for that…
I agree…Like I said earlier…Peschi (and or Sinatra) was wrong.
But wanting an apology from people who booed her? Not so much. IMHO of course.
Because two wrongs don’t make a right?
Because even if she chose a less than optimal way to express it she was trying to bring attention to a serious problem within the church and society as a whole?
Because it’s always nice to apologize for hurting another’s feelings even if you vehemently disagree with them?
No. Her protest was hardly clear. Even now it’s intent is uncertain. It came across not as a protest against church abuse but rather as an attack on Catholicism in general. Catholic reaction was rather predictable. Instead of calling attention to grave problems within the church, it caused confusion and a rally effect behind the pope.
I see it much in the same light as what happened to the Dixie Chicks after their anti-Bush remarks.
Neither they or Sinead will ever live it down regardless of whether or not their actions are seen differently in the future. It won’t make any difference to their careers.
Recently, O’Conner has moved from Pop to Celtic music, doing a fine number, The Foggy Dew, on a recent Chieftains album.
So, although she isn’t greatly on the US scene, her career continues.
She has a very fine voice.
So booing someone you disagree with is wrong…and requires an “apology”?
Wow…you’re gonna be busy demanding lots of apologies from folks of all political stripes then 
See above…if that’s the threshold for insisiting on “apologies”…damn you folks are gonna be busy here
I think that if you’re a celeb and you make a visible public statement (whether it’s Sinead tearing up the photo or Roseanne grabbing her crotch after the national anthem) of dubious nature…having your widdle feelings “hurt” falls pretty far down on my list of things to get hepped up about.
YMMV of course.
“Illuminate the violence of the mitre and the rod
And they will tear you limb from limb in the name of God.”
–some guy singin’ about The Sinead Incident.
She’s been singing with the Chieftains for a long time I am pretty sure the cut on the recent CD (“The Wide World Over”) was recorded years ago - I think it’s the same one from “The Long Black Veil” (1995). It might have been recorded even before that.
If you get up on a stage and do something, be it acting, singing, dancing, or tearing up pictures, you have to expect you might be booed. Pesci was a bit over the top, but he was part of the TV audience. I don’t think he really would have killed her.
Now had she bared a nipple…
Sinead?
Absolutely not. She said it herself. It was a young and juvenile act:
She claimed that her attack on the photo had been “a ridiculous act, the gesture of a girl rebel,” which she did “because I was in rebellion against the faith, but I was still within the faith.” (From the link supplied previously)
If she wanted to protest sexual abuse cases, she could have done so in a clearer manner. Instead, without a ready explanation, she just tore up a picture of the Pope. Seems to me that the SNL moment was more of a publicity stunt to garner attention and promote her image of rebellion.
She does indeed. And though I disagree with the manner of her protest, she has offered an apology, and I have no problem sitting back and enjoying her music.