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• 1 media/images-4.jpg 2022-12-10T06:48:14-08:00 1990s: "No Laughing Matter" - Sinead O'Connor 14 Sinead O'Connor SNL Performance gallery 2022-12-13T06:44:07-08:00
  

  When Sinead O'Connor rehearsed her SNL performance of Bob Marley's "War" in 1992, she originally held up a picture of a refugee child after the song concluded as a moving statement about racism. This was agreed upon with SNL producers, but when live on the air, in front of a studio audience, O'Connor switched pictures and held up a vintage photo of Pope John Paul II, and in real time the message transformed from racism into a protest of the systematic child abuse within the Catholic Church. She rips the photograph to shreds, and proclaims “fight the real enemy." It was later revealed the photo had sat on her mother's wall, who allegedly abused her as a child.
  
  This protest is an archive of multiple branches of humanities, and is an example of protest as remix. This became one of the biggest moments of pop culture in the 1990s, and I theorize the influence of comedy set the stage for this moment to take place. Comedy acts as an archive in this instance, because it acts as the framework and distribution for her message to be broadcasted to millions. Many families were watching with their children, who may have been hearing about the allegations for the first time. It's interesting to note she chose to not do this protest at a platform like the MTV Music Awards, or the VMAs. Instead, she chose to send this message out on a network cable comedy sketch show. This showcases the power and influence comedy has over the masses as a platform, and archives a moment of blending humanities, and remixing the context of the humanities itself.