Sinéad O’Connor warned by Joe Pesci he’d have given her a ‘smack’ if he’d seen her tear up Pope picture

4 August 2023

Sinéad O’Connor was warned by Joe Pesci he would have given her a “smack” her if he’d been on the ‘Saturday Night Live’ episode where she infamously ripped up a picture of the Pope.

Sinéad O’Connor was warned by Joe Pesci he would have given her a ‘smack’ her if he’d been on the ‘Saturday Night Live’ episode where she infamously ripped up a picture of the Pope

The ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’ singer, who was found dead on 26 July aged 56 in London, ripped up a snap of John Paul II during her performance on ‘SNL’ in 1992 in protest against abusers and the Catholic church’s cover-up of sex abuse.

A week later, ‘Goodfellas’ actor Joe appeared on the sketch show and ranted: “Before we start the show, there’s a little matter I wanna clear up. There was an incident on the show last week: Sinéad O’Connor tore up a picture of the Pope, and I thought that was wrong, so I asked someone to paste it back together.”

He then presented the photo to applause from the audience, before adding: “I mean why should I let it bother me, right? It wasn’t my show. But I’ll tell you one thing, she was very lucky it wasn’t my show, because if it was my show, I would have gave her such a smack.”

Joe then said in reference to Sinéad’s shaved head he would have “grabbed her by her eyebrows” if he had been on the ‘SNL’ show where she tore up the pope snap.

Fans of the singer’s have branded his comments – which have gone viral since her death – vile, especially considering Sinéad’s mental health issues.

She had performed a cover version of Bob Marley’s ‘War’ on an ‘SNL’ episode hosted by Tim Robbins, after which she controversially ripped up a photo of Pope John Paul II, and stated to the camera: “Fight the real enemy.”

Sinéad said in her 2021 memoir ‘Rememberings’ she meant to attack her abusive mum Johanna Marie – who died in 1985 aged 45 in a car smash – by tearing up a picture of the pope on ‘SNL’.

She revealed about the incident in a passage from the autobiography: “My intention had always been to destroy my mother’s photo of the pope.

“It represented lies and liars and abuse. The type of people who kept these things were devils like my mother.

“I never knew when or where or how I would destroy it, but destroy it I would when the right moment came.

“And with that in mind, I carefully brought it everywhere I lived from that day forward.

“Because nobody ever gave a s*** about the children of Ireland.”