Picking Up the Pieces

Even casual SNL or music fans know what happened two years later, when O’Connor finally appeared on SNL as the musical guest of the October 3, 1992 episode: After a stunning a capella performance of Bob Marley’s “War,” O’Connor declared “fight the real enemy!” and tore up a picture of Pope John Paul II in a protest of abuse in the Catholic Church.

The backlash was immediate and widespread. Less known is a silly anecdote about David Spade, who had witnessed the moment from the side of the stage. He recalled in his aforementioned entertaining memoir, Almost Interesting, that he had “sort of flirted” with O’Conner when she was in Studio 8H that week, but decided after the incident, “I wouldn’t try to sleep with her since she was now a worldwide pariah.”