Sinéad O'Connor has revealed exactly why she chose to tear up a photo of Pope John Paul II during an appearance on "Saturday Night Live" in 1992.
In an excerpt of her new memoir, "Rememberings," which was published by Rolling Stone Magazine, the Irish singer-songwriter explained her actions were motivated by anger at how children were being treated in Ireland.
Her frustration had already been brewing after reading reports of children who had been "ravaged by priests but whose stories are not believed by the police or bishops their parents report it to." Adding to that, a close friend of O'Connor's had confessed to her that he was a drug dealer and was using school children as "mules." He also said he would likely be killed by a rival dealer in a few days.
O'Connor had been carrying the photo of the Pope for years, after removing it from her deceased mother's bedroom wall. She always intended to destroy it and was looking for the right moment to do so.
"It [the photo] was taken when he visited Ireland in 1979," she wrote in her book. "'Young people of Ireland,' he had said after making a show of kissing the ground at the Dublin airport like the flight had been overly frightening, 'I love you.' What a load of claptrap. Nobody loved us. Not even God. Sure, even our mothers and fathers couldn’t stand us."
O’Connor said the photo represented "lies and liars and abuse," which is why she wanted to tear it up. Then she was invited to perform on "SNL."
"I’m to perform two songs, the second of which is Bob Marley’s 'War,' a cappella," O'Connor recalled. "The lyric is actually a speech given to the United Nations by the Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie in New York in 1963 about racism being the cause of all wars. But I’m gonna change a few lines to be a declaration of war against child abuse. Because I’m p***ed at Terry for what he told me last night. I’m p***ed he’s been using kids to run drugs. And I’m p***ed he’s gonna be dead by Monday."
During rehearsals, after she finished singing "War," O 'Connor held up a photo of a Brazilian street kid who had been killed by the police. However, that was not the photo she held up after the live performance hours later. Instead, she ripped up the one of the Pope while yelling "Fight the real enemy."
"Everyone wants a pop star, see? But I am a protest singer. I just had stuff to get off my chest," O' Connor wrote.
As a result, she was banned from NBC for life. Her career took a dent, which was evident after being booed at a Bob Dylan tribute concert a few weeks later. But O’Connor wrote that she had no regrets about any of it.
"A lot of people say or think that tearing up the pope’s photo derailed my career. That’s not how I feel about it. I feel that having a number-one record derailed my career and my tearing the photo put me back on the right track," she explained. "I had to make my living performing live again. And that’s what I was born for. I wasn’t born to be a pop star. You have to be a good girl for that. Not be too troubled."
O’Connor has been vocal about her past, which over the years has been marked with drug addiction and trauma. Last year she announced on Twitter that she would be postponing shows for the next two years to enter a one-year trauma and addiction treatment program.
Related Stories:
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.