Sinéad O’Connor had one of the most memorable moments in Saturday Night Live history, when in 1992, she tore a photograph of Pope John Paul II while performing. It has long been rumored that she was banned from SNL (Lorne Michaels says that’s not true of her or anybody), but on the SNL50 special this weekend, the show took a moment to honor O’Connor, who died in 2023.
After being introduced by Aubrey Plaza (making her first public appearance since husband Jeff Baena’s death in January), Miley Cyrus, Brittany Howard, and The Roots covered “Nothing Compares 2 U,” which was written by Prince for his band The Family but was most famously recorded by O’Connor.
Elsewhere in the show, Dave Chappelle introduced a performance by Lil Wayne, who was also backed by The Roots. He performed a medley of hits featuring “Uproar,” “Lollipop,” “6 Foot 7 Foot,” “Mrs. Officer,” and “A Milli.”
There was a ton of music on SNL50 outside of the aforementioned. Sabrina Carpenter appeared in a new “Domingo” sketch, and she also joined Paul Simon to sing “Homeward Bound.” Paul McCartney also showed up and ran through a three-song medley.
Watch the performances from Cyrus, Howard, The Roots, and Wayne above.
