Description
During her appearance on Saturday Night Live, Sinéad O'Connor sang Bob Marley's “War” a cappella, changing part of the lyrics to refer to child abuse. At the end of the performance, she unexpectedly pulled out a photograph of Pope John Paul II, tore it into pieces and said “Fight the real enemy.” It was an unannounced protest against sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. During rehearsal, she had held a photograph of a child and kept her actual intentions secret from the production team. The studio fell completely silent after her gesture and the broadcast went to commercial. The incident generated thousands of complaints, NBC did not invite O'Connor back to the program, and in some later reruns the footage was replaced with the rehearsal recording. The claim that NBC received a $2.5 million fine from the Federal Communications Commission over the incident is not supported by verified sources.