Lorne Michaels Admits He Would Have Welcomed Sinead O’Connor Back for ‘SNL 50’

In 1992, Sinéad O’Connor made headlines for ripping up a photo of Pope John Paul II on Saturday Night Live — and was never invited back to the show. But during SNL’s 50th anniversary special, Miley Cyrus and Brittany Howard performed her signature hit “Nothing Compares 2 U,” and creator Lorne Michaels revealed he would have extended an invite to O’Connor if she were still alive.

“If [O’Connor] were still alive, I would have asked her to sing that song,” Michaels, 80, said during an interview with Puck published on August 22. “But it was represented by Miley singing it with so much power.”

However, not all fans were pleased with Cyrus, 32, performing the tune considering she and O’Connor had famously feuded online in 2013. Shortly after the release of the music video for “Wrecking Ball,” Cyrus revealed she had been inspired by O’Connor, but the “Feel So Different” singer instead responded with a warning to the younger artist.

“I am extremely concerned for you that those around you have led you to believe, or encouraged you in your own belief, that it is in any way ‘cool’ to be naked and licking sledgehammers in your videos,” O’Connor wrote in an open letter to the “Party in the U.S.A.” songstress. “It is in fact the case that you will obscure your talent by allowing yourself to be pimped, whether it’s the music business or yourself doing the pimping.”

Cyrus’ response to O’Connor’s concern was to chastise her mental health in a social media post on X and compared her to former Nickelodeon star Amanda Bynes, who was also struggling with her mental health at the time.

In August 2023 — one month after the ’90s icon died from natural causes at age 56 — the “Flowers” hitmaker expressed regret over mocking O’Connor. In her documentary concert special, Endless Summer Vacation: Continued (Backyard Sessions), Cyrus admitted that she had “no idea about the fragile mental state that [O’Connor] was in.” She later dedicated her song “Wonder Woman” to the late singer.