Joe Pesci said he would ‘smack’ Sinéad O’Connor for pope ‘SNL’ stunt

Sinéad O’Connor’s untimely death at the age of 56 last week has spurred memories of both her eclectic career as well as her most controversial moments.

One contentious event infamously occurred in 1992 when the “Nothing Compares 2 U” singer appeared on “Saturday Night Live” and proceeded to rip up a photo of Pope John Paul II in protest of child sex abuse rampant in the Catholic Church.

Fast forward to the next week when actor Joe Pesci criticized the Irish songstress during his own appearance.

A video clip of the “Goodfellas” star’s “SNL” 1992 monologue has now resurfaced following her passing.

“Before we start the show, there’s a little matter I wanna clear up. There was an incident on the show last week,” the Oscar winner, 80, said as he held up the photograph to the audience. 

He continued: “Sinead O’Connor tore up a picture of the Pope, and I thought that was wrong, so I asked someone to paste it back together.”

“I mean why should I let it bother me, right? It wasn’t my show,” he went on. “But I’ll tell you one thing, she was very lucky it wasn’t my show, because if it was my show, I would have gave her such a smack.”

He then proceeded to say that he would have “grabbed her by her eyebrows.”

Pesci’s past response has garnered backlash from social media users, who came to O’Connor’s defense.

“She was more brave, and more right, than she ever got credit for,” someone penned on X, formerly known as Twitter.

“Now would be a good time for Joe Pesci and SNL to issue an apology for that monologue where they joked about beating her up,” a person tweeted.

Another user chimed in: “Glad i’m not the only one who remembers the AWFUL set Joe Pesci did on SNL threatening to hurt Sinead O’Connor over the photo rip. shows how extreme the hate Sinead got from all media despite her being right. Even as a kid i wondered why the crowd was cheering SNL for this crap.”

O’Connor’s performance on the NBC sketch show caused her to be banned from the series and led other celebrities to call her out on her stance.

According to the New York Times, Madonna blasted O’Connor in an interview.

“I think there’s a better way to present her ideas rather than ripping up an image that means a lot to other people. If she’s against the Roman Catholic Church and she has a problem with them I think she should talk about it,” the “Material Girl” singer said.

“I think you have to do more than denigrate a symbol.”