Sinead O`Connor shocked the ”Saturday Night Live” studio audience, the show`s producers and millions of viewers when she ripped a picture of Pope John Paul II to pieces on live television.
”Fight the real enemy,” the smooth-scalped Irish singer shouted as she held up the 8-by-12 color photo of the pontiff and methodically shredded it during her appearance toward the end of Saturday night`s show.
NBC was flooded Sunday with more than 500 phone calls-among the largest number generated in the history of the often-controversial 17-year-old show. All but seven calls were complaints, said NBC spokesman Curt Block.
”A lot of people were as offended as we were,” said Block, who was in the control room when O`Connor pulled the surprise stunt.
The Dublin-born singer, wearing a long white gown, tore up the photo after performing ”War”-an a cappella song about racism, war and child abuse. After the song, she blew out candles on the stage and walked off; the studio audience was silent.
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Block said that during dress rehearsal Saturday night, O`Connor performed the song and ripped up a picture of an unidentified baby at its conclusion.
”What she did was completely unexpected,” he said of her finale on the show.
Block said it was undecided whether O`Connor, 26, would ever be invited back to the show. He added that she returned to her dressing room after the song and quickly left NBC`s Rockefeller Plaza studio when the show ended 15 minutes later.
The outspoken singer is no stranger to controversy.
O`Connor has criticized the Catholic Church`s stand against abortion and earlier this year led an abortion-rights march in Dublin.
In 1990, O`Connor refused to allow the national anthem to be played before her performance at the Garden State Arts Center in New Jersey.