Lorne Michaels would have invited Sinéad O’Connor to sing ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’ at SNL50

SNL creator Lorne Michaels has said he would have invited Sinéad O’Connor to sing ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’ for the show’s 50th anniversary.

• READ MORE: Sinéad O’Connor, 1966-2023: an artist of integrity, intensity and honesty

The late singer was responsible for one of the most controversial live performances in the show’s history in 1992 when she tore up a photograph of Pope John Paul II during a rendition of Bob Marley’s ‘War’. Protesting the Catholic Church by switching the song’s lyrics to reference child abuse, she threw the pieces of the photo to the floor and said, “fight the real enemy”.

It proved to be an incendiary moment, triggering hundreds of complaints, and O’Connor was never invited to appear on SNL again. She became the subject of major press attention and two weeks later, she was booed at a Bob Dylan tribute show at Madison Square Garden. She was, however, named as the most influential woman of 1992 by Time magazine.

O’Connor later wrote in her 2021 memoir Rememberings that she did not regret the performance, arguing that it was more important to be a protest singer than a pop star.

SNL mocked O’Connor in subsequent episodes, with Madonna tearing up a photo of sex offender Joey Buttafucco, who she called “the real enemy”, and Joe Pesci saying in his monologue that he would like to grab O’Connor “by the eyebrows” and give her “such a smack”.

Michaels has also been critical of the performance in the past, telling Spin in 1993 that he was “shocked” by the incident and saying “it was dishonest because she didn’t tell us she was going to do it”.

In a new interview with Puck News, however, Michaels indicated that he would have invited O’Connor to be part of the 50th anniversary celebrations earlier this year if it were possible.

“If she were still alive, I would have asked her to sing that song,” he said, referencing her chart-topping cover of Prince’s ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’, which ended up being performed by Miley Cyrus and Brittany Howard on the show.

The Irish singer passed away on July 26, 2023, aged 56. Her cause of death was later revealed to be asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). She was laid to rest at a ceremony in the Irish town of Bray, with Bob Geldof and Bono among those paying tribute at her funeral.

An O’Connor biopic is reportedly in the works, with Irish production company ie: entertainment and BBC Film said to be involved, and a script from Irish writer Stacey Gregg.

“It will look to tell the story of how one young woman from Dublin took on the world, examining how her global fame may have been built on her talent, but her name became synonymous with her efforts to draw attention to the crimes committed by the Catholic Church and the Irish state,” a report from Variety claimed.

Dua Lipa covered ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’ in Dublin’s Aviva Stadium this summer, describing O’Connor as an “Irish legend”, while Chappell Roan dedicated her BRIT Award to the singer in March.

The post Lorne Michaels would have invited Sinéad O’Connor to sing ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’ at SNL50 appeared first on NME.