I’m thinking the reaction would not be so hostile if she did something like that today.
Well, this month would probably be the optimal time to do it in if she was looking to minimize outrage, given that the Pope is already having a bad couple weeks in popular opinion.
I thought the same thing when I was back in high school and the Catholic sex abuses started to come to light. I was too young to have watched SNL when that happened but didn’t it end her popularity. NBC still would have flipped a lid over it, but she definitely would have had more people defend her now than she did in 1992. Part of that is we know more about the bad things that went on under John Paul II’s reign than we do now, and that he was very popular with Protestants in this country, where as Pope Benny isn’t nearly as much.
Followed the next week of Madonna saying “Fight the real enemy” and tearing up a photo of Joey Buttafuoco.
It wouldn’t be so hostile now mainly because I’d wager far fewer people know who she is than did in 1992. Her relevance isn’t what it used to be.
It was inappropriate behavior then, and it would be inappropriate behavior now.
Why?
Less negative, sure, but a lot of people would still manage to get upset because it was on television and it was disrespectful of a religious figure. A lot of Catholics who disapprove of what he’s done lately would probably still be upset if she ripped up his picture.
I’m not so sure. We tend to forget why she did it. The Wikipedia article on Sinead has this:
Is protesting sexual abuse “inappropriate behavior”? Back in 1992, we really didn’t know about all the sexual abuse happening in the Catholic Church so when Ms O’connor pulled her little stunt, it was met with skepticism an derision.
It turned out she was right though, didn’t it?
I didn’t think it was any more inappropriate than it would have been had someone torn a picture of Jim Jones in '78.
I don’t know, I’m a Catholic and my reaction at the time was a great big yawn. She tore up a photo on TV. Big deal. And I’m supposed to care about this why?
I don’t think the priest even mentioned it at all in church, so it wasn’t a big deal there, either.
Same here. She was not important enough to me to care about it.
Video of the song in question. At the time I owned none of her work. After seeing her on SNL I bought some cds.
No, but doing so with someone else’s microphone is. Had she done the same thing at a political rally, I’d have no problem with it. Doing it on live TV, without the consent of the network, was inappropriate.
She’s still speaking out:
After seeing that video I can see why she’s pretty much ignored as a serious artist. I don’t think NBC should be mad about the Pope thing. They should be mad because her singing probably put the audience to sleep.
**BubbaDog **- she has issues (clearly!) but she has a phenomenal voice and with the right material, can excel. Stuff like Mandinka and Jerusalem off her first CD, and Nothing Compares 2 U are really great songs and performances…
…as for the OP - the point is made: she was a bit of a Cassandra, i.e., speaking of something that no one wanted to hear and castigated her for it…IANACatholic, so can’t comment on that angle. It was an aggressive act within the context of what was supposed to be a bit of entertaining music - some folks don’t take to that too well, then or now…
I was actually a pretty big fan of Sinead when she first came out, and did happen to be watching when she pulled that stunt. I wasn’t offended by ripping up the pope per se, but my patience with her was at an end.
You see, it tends to get overlooked in hindsight, but Sinead O’Conner had a pretty well established history of obnoxious, hostile & ill-thought out ‘protest’ stunts that pretty much amounted to Sinead being an asshole for the sake of appearing ‘edgy’ and ‘rebellious’ - refusing to play the Star-Spangled Banner before a show was one thing, calling Bono of U2 a ‘douchebag’ was quite another.
What’s more, her career was already going into a downslide. Her debut album “the Lion & the Cobra” was a surprise alternative hit. Her second album “I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got” was a huge mega-seller. Her third album (which she was on SNL to plug) “Am I Not Your Girl?” was mediocre at best.
I got a taste of her bad attitude myself when I went to see her in concert. During one number, the audience was cheering her on. She stopped the show and yelled at us. “I’m trying to sing a song here. SHUT THE FUCK UP!!!” she growled. Sinead, honey, rule #1 about show business is “don’t alienate your audience.”
Anyway, the moment that Sinead really lost my support (and I’ll bet a lot of other people’s support as well) was a few days after the SNL gig. She appeared on MTV news to talk about it. Sinead was defensive, evasive, back-tracked on everything she’d said, and clearly had not researched her accusations, or even thought out what idea she was trying to express by her stunt. When you’re being confrontational and in-your-face when you’ve got a real message to get across, you’re a rebel. When you’re being confrontational and in-your-face just for the sake of looking like a rebel, you’re just an asshole. I mean, it was MTV news! It’s not exactly like they were asking her any hardball question.
What was this all about?
I was never clear on the nature of Sinead’s objection to JPII, back in 1992.