Looking Back: Sinead O’Connor’s Heartwarming Encounter with Kris Kristofferson After Being Booed Onstage Following 1992 SNL Incident
Trigger Warning: The article contains references to sexual abuse.
Sinead O’Connor had once praised Kris Kristofferson for comforting her after she got booed off stage at Madison Square Garden following her bold move at Saturday Night Live in 1992. The list of heartfelt tributes to the late Kristofferson who passed away at the age of 88 on Saturday, September 28 elongates, as everyone is praising not only his exceptional artistry but also his humane side.
In 2021, O’Connor remembered the musician and actor when he stood up for her during a turbulent phase of her life involving her SNL controversy. O’Connor left the world on 26 July 2023 at age 56.
The year 1992 saw the Troy singer and activist receiving hate mail after her SNL performance where she sensationally tore up a picture of Pope John II as a stated protest against the Catholic Church when it was allegedly covering up sexual abuse scandals involving children. A few weeks later, she was set to perform at a concert honoring Bob Dylan at the Madison Square Garden in New York City.
O’Connor received a bittersweet mix of boos and cheers during her performance. It was when Kristofferson offered words of encouragement to her when she needed them the most and put his arm around her to comfort the singer.
In Rememberings: Scenes from My Complicated Life, a memoir published in 2021 by O’Connor she recalled some of the rather disturbing scenes that transpired when she stood in front of the audience. She wrote, “The loudest noise I’ve ever heard. It makes me feel really nauseous and almost bursts my eardrums.”
Such were the circumstances that made it impossible for her to perform Bob Dylan’s I Believe in You which was the first song on the list for her initial performance. Rather, she opted to sing Bob Marley’s War.
She revealed in the book that the show organizers had dispatched Kristofferson to get her off the stage since the show wasn’t going as planned and incited a hostile response from the audience. The Loving Her Was Easier singer approached an agitated Sinead with empathy, instead of dragging her off-stage.
She elaborated, “Don’t let the bastards get you down,’ he says into my mic. And we go offstage and I almost barf on him as he gives me a hug.”
In an interview with RTÉ One’s Saturday Night with Miriam back in August 2010, Kristofferson recalled the moment calling Sinead O’Connor “courageous”. He said, “They told me to get her off the stage and I said, ‘I’m not about to do [that].”
As a result, O’Connor continued her performance on stage. Kris Kristofferson added, “It just seemed to me wrong booing that little girl out there, but she’s always had courage.” He always believed the then 26-year-old O’Connor’s SNL gesture was greatly misunderstood and was indeed an act of bravery.
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