Joe Pesci’s SNL rant on Sinead O’Connor resurfaces following singer’s death

Rory Cashin

“I would’ve gave her such a smack.”

Saturday, 3 October, 1992. Sinead O’Connor was the musical guest on Saturday Night Live, with actor Tim Robbins the guest host that week.

During her performance, the now legendary incident took place where O’Connor tore up a picture of Pope John Paul II, as a form of protest against the cover-ups by the Catholic Church of their sexual abuse accusations.

Years later, when writing in her 2021 autobiography ‘Rememberings’, O’Connor wrote: “Everyone wants a pop star, see? But I am a protest singer. I just had stuff to get off my chest. I had no desire for fame.”

Saturday, 10 October, 1992. Joe Pesci was the guest host of Saturday Night Live, with the Spin Doctors as the musical guest. During his opening monologue, Pesci brought attention to the previous week, and that speech has resurfaced on social media following O’Connor’s passing on Wednesday evening.

‘I would’ve gave her such a smack’ – Joe Pesci

“There was an incident on the show last week. Sinead O’Connor tore up a picture of the Pope. I thought that was wrong, so I asked somebody to paste it back together.”

Holding up the image, as the audience applauded, Pesci continued: “There. I think that’s a lot better. Okay. Case closed. I mean, why should I let it bother me, right? It wasn’t my show, it was Tim Robbins’ show.

“But I’ll tell you one thing, she was very lucky it wasn’t my show. Cos if it was my show, I would’ve gave her such a smack.”

As the audience laugh and cheer, Pesci went on: “I would’ve grabbed her by her… eyebrows. Ah, what am I doing? I’m making myself crazy, for what? I mean, she’s just a kid, why should I care? Anyway, the Pope has probably forgiven her already, he forgave that guy that shot him, right?”

At the time of writing, the Joe Pesci episode is uploaded to the official Saturday Night Live YouTube account, but the Sinead O’Connor performance is not.