As tributes flood in for American country singer-songwriter Kris Kristofferson following his death on Saturday, fans remember when he stood by Sinéad O’Connor following her infamous appearance on Saturday Night Live on US television in October 1992.
In a gesture which caused public outcry, O’Connor made clear her stance on clerical abuse by tearing up a photo of Pope John Paul II and urging viewers to “fight the real enemy” after her powerful performance of Bob Marley’s War.
Days later, in the midst of the backlash, O’Connor was introduced by Kristofferson as an “artist whose name’s become synonymous with courage and integrity”, as she took to the stage to play at Bob Dylan’s 30th anniversary concert in New York’s Madison Square Garden. She was met with jeering and booing.
In a show of solidarity, Kristofferson came back on stage to offer O’Connor some words of comfort.
“The promoters told me to go out and get her off the stage, but I wasn’t going to do that,” he recalled during an appearance on RTÉ One’s Saturday Night with Miriam in August 2010.
Discussing the close bond the pair had forged through this controversy, Kristofferson told Miriam O’Callaghan what he said to the Nothing Compares 2 U singer that night.
[ Kris Kristofferson, US country singer and actor, dies aged 88Opens in new window ]
“I walked out to her and whispered ‘don’t let the bastards get you down’. She smiled and said: ‘I’m not down.’”
“It seemed to me very wrong, booing that little girl. But she was always courageous,” he said.
O’Connor, who died in 2023, performed an acapella version of War again after the crowd’s booing drowned out the piano player when they started to play Dylan’s I Believe In You.
On Saturday Night with Miriam, Kristofferson and O’Connor then sang Kristofferson’s apt classic song Help Me Make It Through the Night together.
In 2009 Kristofferson penned Sister Sinead, a song dedicated to the moment they shared on stage in Madison Square Garden.
“It’s askin’ for trouble to stick out your neck/In terms of a target a big silhouette/But some candles flicker and some candles fade/And some burn as true as my sister Sinead”.
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