Sinead O’Connor did her career some major damage when she appeared on US TV’s Saturday Night Live and held up an 8" x 10" color photo of Pope John Paul II, ripped it into pieces and said, “Fight the real enemy.” Over the next few days the NBC switchboard in New York received thousands of calls denouncing O’Connor’s performance. The network and the show’s executive producer, Lorne Michaels, both denied any knowledge of O’Connor’s plan and said she had performed the song differently in rehearsal. Catholic groups expressed outrage at the act and called it patently offensive to people of all religious beliefs. NBC has never again aired the O’Connor performance.
The big deal was that catholic priests were raping children and the church did not want to know or do anything about it. How dear she raise awareness of this!