Sinead O’Connor BOYCOTTS BBC Woman’s Hour
Sinead O’Connor says she’ll never speak to BBC Woman’s Hour again after ‘offensive, abusive and misogynistic’ interview but apologises for likening herself to a Jamaican man in expletive-laden chat
- The Irish singer, 54, was promoting her memoir Rememberings when she engaged in the stilted conversation with host Emma Barnett, 36, on Tuesday
- During the interview, Emma spoke of how The Telegraph’s music critic Neil McCormick, 60, had branded Sinead ‘the crazy lady in pop’s attic’
- Taking to Twitter afterwards, Sinead stated that the comments in the ‘misogynistic’ interview were ‘abusive and invalidating’
- She also apologised for ‘stereotyping’ when she likened herself to Jamaican men for ‘purposely’ having four children by four different men
- In her later tweets, she vowed to never appear on Woman’s Hour again
Sinead O’Connor has hit out at BBC Woman’s Hour after being subjected to an ‘offensive and misogynistic’ interview on the show on Tuesday morning.
The Irish singer, 54, was promoting her memoir Rememberings when she engaged in the stilted conversation with host Emma Barnett, 36, who spoke of her being ‘a crazy lady’, while Sinead also controversially likened herself to Jamaican men.
Taking to Twitter hours after the interview aired, Sinead blasted Emma and the show for various ‘abusive’ comments and also apologised if she ‘accidentally offended Jamaican men’ when she detailed having different fathers to her four children.
During the discussion, Emma spoke of how The Telegraph’s music critic Neil McCormick, 60, had branded Sinead ‘the crazy lady in pop’s attic’ – a reference the singer later described as ‘abusive and invalidating’.
Speaking out: Sinead O’Connor has hit out at BBC Woman’s Hour after being subjected to an ‘offensive and misogynistic’ interview on the show on Tuesday morning
Sinead is currently blazing the promo trail with her tome and her appearance on the BBC show saw Emma probe her about society’s approach to mental health and how the media is evolving following her personal battles.
Emma delved into Neil’s statement, saying: ‘I was very struck by an interview with Neil McCormick, the music critic for The Telegraph, when he said your reputation as ‘the crazy lady in pop’s attic’ has pursued you.’
Regarding the comment, which was made in Neil’s review of Rememberings last week, Emma pushed: ‘I wonder what you make of that?’
Sinead seemed taken aback by the comment and pointed out its clear reference to Bertha Mason, the character in Charlotte Brontë’s 1847 novel Jane Eyre, who is violently insane and locked up by her husband Rochester.
Hitting back: The Irish singer, 54, was promoting her memoir Rememberings when she engaged in the stilted conversation with host Emma Barnett, 36, (pictured in January) who spoke of her being ‘a crazy lady’, while Sinead also likened herself to Jamaican men
She said: ‘I think it’s a bit extreme to make the Jane Eyre comparison, I don’t think I’ve ever been perceived as ‘the crazy lady in pop’s attic’ as represented in Jane Eyre…
‘It’s not like I’m trying to attack people with knives or trying to strangle people while I’m walking around in my nightdress.’
In her post-interview tweets, Sinead, who changed her name to Shuhada’ Davitt in 2018, penned: ‘Actually found the interview with @Emmabarnett extremely offensive and even misogynistic…
‘One abusive and invalidating question or statement after another: “madwoman in the attic” At that point I should have ended it. I will absolutely never do Women’s hour again.’
Hitting back: Sinead vowed not to appear on the show again following the reference to Neil McCormick’s slur
Emotional: She also apologised for offending Jamaican men in the chat
Starring role: Sinead’s apology came after she spoke on the show about her own family situation. She has been married four times and has four children (Sinead, pictured in 1990)
From ripping up the Pope’s picture to THAT ‘disgusting white people tweet’: 10 of Sinéad O’Connor’s most controversial moments
1991, American National Anthem furore: Sinéad sparked outrage in the US after she she refused to perform at New Jersey’s Garden State Arts Center if the National Anthem was played before her show.
Staff didn’t play the Star Spangled Banner, however Sinéad was later banned from the venue and several New York radio stations, reports DublinLive.
1991, Grammys boycott: Also in the same year, the Irish singer pulled out of the Grammys and refused to accept her award for Best Alternative Album.
Sinéad slammed the event saying the ‘honoured people achieved material success rather than those who have told the truth or done anything to inspire.’
Outrage: While appearing on Saturday Night Live in 1992, Sinéad ripped up a picture of Pope John Paul II during her performance of Bob Marley’s song War
1992, Ripping up the Pope’s picture on SNL: Perhaps her most infamous moment came at the peak of her fame in 1992 after Sinéad tore a picture of Pope John Paul II while appearing on Saturday Night Live in the US.
She was performing a cappella version of Bob Marley’s song War when she took out a picture of the Pope on the word ‘evil’ and ripped it up.
Sinéad, who was heckled weeks later at a Bob Dylan tribute concert, went on to say the move was a protest against sexual abuse in the Catholic church.
1999, Is ordained a priest: Sinéad became Mother Bernadette Marie after being ordained by bishop Michael Cox of the Latin Tridentine church.
She later faced a furore after it was revealed she had also donated £150,000 to the Bishop, reports DublinLive.
2000, Sinéad comes out as gay: The following year Sinéad revealed she was a lesbian in an interview with American magazine Curve.
She told the publication: ‘I’m a lesbian. I haven’t been very open about that, and throughout most of my life I’ve gone out with blokes because I haven’t necessarily been terribly comfortable about being a lesbian.’
And in 2014, Sinéad spoke further about her sexuality telling Pride Source she ‘wouldn’t give a s**t’ if the person she loves was a man or woman.
Colourful career: Other controversies have included Sinead penning a letter criticising Miley Cyrus, changing her name twice and being ordained a priest
2013, Writing to Miley Cyrus: The singer penned an open letter to Miley Cyrus criticising the explicit video for her song Wrecking Ball after Miley quoted her Nothing Compares 2 U video as the inspiration for Wrecking Ball.
She said: ‘The message you keep sending is that it’s somehow cool to be prostituted… Women are to be valued for so much more than their sexuality.’
2017, Changing her name: Sinéad changed her name to Magda Davitt in 2017 so she could be ‘free of parental slave names’
2018, Converting to Islam: 19 years after being ordained as a priest she started using the name Shuhada Sadaqat after converting to Islam in October 2018
2018, ‘Disgusting white people’ Tweet: She sparked outrage after announcing she no longer wants to spend any time with ‘disgusting white people’.
Sinéad penned: ‘Something so racist I never thought my soul could ever feel it. But truly I never wanna spend time with white people again (if that’s what non-muslims are called). Not for one moment… They are disgusting.’
She later apologised saying the comment was made ‘while angry and unwell… I was triggered as a result of Islamophobia dumped on me.’
Shock: Sinead sparked outrage on Twitter in 2018 by claiming she no longer wants to spend time with ‘disgusting white people’ after converting to Islam
2020, Trump and Covid: After it was reported the former President had Covid, Sinéad took to Twitter to pen: ‘I couldn’t give a f*** what anyone thinks. I hope it takes him.’
2020, Cancels gigs amid ongoing mental health worries: In November, Sinéad said she was taking a break from performing as she goes into a year-long rehabilitation programme. All her 2021 gigs were called off.
Sinéad has worried fans with a series of concerning social media updates about her mental health over the years.
And in 2017 she sparked alarm with a teary 12-minute video on her Facebook page in which she stated that she had wanted to kill herself for two years.
Her other tweet read: ‘Also, apologies if I accidentally offended Jamaican men. I was referring to specific friends of mine in the music business. Jamaican people are my favourite people on this earth and Jamaican male musicians my biggest inspiration.’
Sinead’s apology came after she spoke on the show about her own family situation. She has been married four times and has four children.
Her eldest son is 33-year-old Jake Reynolds, whose father is Donal Reynolds. They married in 1987 before splitting in 1991. Her daughter Roisin, 24, is the result of her relationship with journalist John Waters.
She shares son Jake, 16, with ex Donal Lunny. Her youngest child is 14-year-old Yeshua Francis Neil Bonadio, who she shares with American businessman Frank Bonadio. They split in 2017, a year after his birth.
‘The crazy lady in pop’s attic’: The duo discussed The Telegraph’s Neil McCormick’s review of Rememberings – which he branded ‘brave and wry’
On the show, Emma asked Sinead: ‘You talk about having four children by four different men and you do say that’s deliberate. I like your description of yourself as a horn dog, as someone expressing themselves and being themselves.’
Sinead replied: ‘I think women always had the freedom to do what they want sexually… I haven’t computed in my life people of my parents or my grandparents’ generation that there was any limitation of women and their sexuality…
‘It would probably be unusual still – I don’t know what it’s like in England – but it’s certainly unusual for someone to have more than two kids with different fathers.’
She then referenced Jamaican men, saying: ‘I’m kind of like a Jamaican father, fathers say is a revolving door in my house…
‘Nobody bats an eyelid when Jamaican fellas have kids with f**king -sorry didnt mean to say that – they have kids with tons of people and no one bats an eyelid’.
Emma pointed out this could be deemed a generalisation, saying: ‘Some people will not like the stereotyping of Jamaican men just then’.
Sinead – who was interrupted by Emma – responded: ‘I wasn’t stereotyping, I was talking about a particular man I cant remember his name. I have to stop you there…
‘I’m not generalising on Jamaican people. They are my favourite people on earth, they’re the greatest people on planet earth…
‘The fact is lots of them have lots of kids with lots of women and nobody bats a f**king eyelid. I can name you a hundred men.’
MailOnline has contacted a representative for BBC Woman’s Hour for comment.
Sinead also spoke about how mental health is treated in society, saying: ‘I call it racist which isn’t the right word but I can never find what the right word is. But being the subject of abuse to someone who is mentally ill is sort of similar to racism…
‘I experienced as have many of my friends with conditions, having a mental health conditions its in the world the way it is now its like having two broken legs but everybody is expecting you to walk normal…
Mum: Sinéad has four children – Shane Lunny, 16, Jake Reynolds, 33, Roisin Waters, 24, and Yeshua Bonadio, 14 (pictured with Shane and Yeshua in Dublin in 2012)
‘If you show symptoms and you don’t walk normal, people are going to knock you over, stomp on your broken legs and use your screaming in pain as something to abuse you with.’
Emma came under further fire earlier this year, when a Woman’s Hour guest stormed off the show just two minutes before airtime after claiming she overheard Emma discussing if she had made anti-Semitic remarks.
Kelechi Okafor was set to talk about the MeToo movement on the Radio 4 show but left the Zoom call moments before it went live after the new host – in her third day in the hotseat – left her mic on during a conversation with producers.
The actress was accused of anti-Semitism in 2017 when she defended Reggie Yates after he praised musicians who were not signed to ‘some random fat Jewish guy’.
Ms Okafor said in the now-deleted podcast: ‘Black people in the entertainment industry have been short-changed so much by the kinds of people Reggie Yates describes. Apart from the ”fat part” I don’t see what he said wrong.’
Emma, who took over hosting the popular Radio 4 show that month, said she had invited Ms Okafor to debate the matter and ‘stands by her queries’.
Rising star: Sinead soared to fame in the 90s with her track Nothing Compares 2 U
She said it was her ‘duty to ask people what qualifies them as a leading voice in a space. And about any previous issues which may influence their views.’
She added: ‘Just before I went on air this morning to present a special programme about Me Too – pegged to the anniversary of Harvey Weinstein’s court case – it came to my attention that Kelechi Okafor had made alleged anti-Semitic remarks.
‘I stand by my questions to my team and to Kelechi. I would have happily hosted her on the programme with a question on this issue.’
She said Ms Okafor denied the allegations. Campaigners have said Barnett’s gaffe meant no BAME voices were included in the MeToo discussion.
A BBC spokesperson said: ‘During an off-air conversation ahead of the programme, Emma Barnett and the production team talked about a guest’s role in the discussion and how to reflect some of the guest’s alleged previous comments and the issue of anti-Semitism as part of the Woman’s Hour discussion on the role of minority voices in the MeToo movement.This was also raised directly with the guest before going on air.’
