On Wednesday evening, the Irish singer’s family confirmed that she had died aged 56 – with tributes quickly pouring in with fans and famous faces, who shared what her music meant to them.
Among the tributes there have been many mentions of some of her more controversial moments, including the time she protested by ripping up a photo of Pope John Paul II on Saturday Night Live in 1992.
On the show to perform an a cappella version of Bob Marley’s 1976 song War, which she intended as a protest against the Catholic Church’s sexual abuse of children and its continued cover-up, O’Connor presented the photo to the camera while singing the word ‘evil’ and then tore the photo into pieces and declared: ‘Fight the real enemy.’
The backlash was swift, with the singer banned from the show for life, and other performers including Madonna criticising her move.
However, the photo, which had belonged to her mother, was also used by O’Connor to ‘rip her up’ after suffering emotional and physical abuse at her hands growing up.
A decade after the performance, Pope John Paul II apologised for rampant sexual abuse by Catholic clergy.
Now, fans have reflected on the ‘brave’ moment where O’Connor put herself up for public criticism to express her views.
‘When Sinéad O Connor tore up the pope’s picture in 1992, Ireland was on the cusp of a reckoning. Long before it was acceptable, Sinéad used her art to shatter the silence and hypocrisy used to control generations of young Irish women like her. What a legacy. What a loss,’ one person posted on Twitter.
‘It honestly felt like the start of change around that time. I remember the vocal vitriol around it but also the younger generation silently agreeing somewhat. And I was only 12,’ someone else wrote.
Another added: ‘And what an unimaginably high price she paid for her relentless courage…’
One of O’Connor’s fans also said the moment was ‘the most punk thing I’d ever seen at the time, and maybe still is’.
Someone else said they ‘admired her courage’ to ‘openly defy’ the Pope.
‘Before cancel culture was a thing and Catholic sex abuse admitted, she was cancelled for ripping a pic of the Pope to protest the abuse. Talented, beautiful tortured soul,’ another wrote.
In the years following the controversy, O’Connor shared the impact of her action, sharing that the subsequent decade was a ‘very lonesome’ one and it was ‘open season’ on her.
‘It was the fashion to treat me bad, whether you were in my bed, at a board meeting, a TV show, a gig, or a party,’ she explained.
‘Everybody treated me like I was a crazy b**** cos I ripped up the Pope’s picture. We know I’m a crazy b****, but that’s not why,’ she told EW in 2021.
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