Sinéad O’Connor revealed what she thought when Kris Kristofferson comforted her after she was booed over the ‘SNL’ scandal

“It just seemed wrong to boo that little girl out there, but she always had courage,” the late Kristofferson previously said of the incident

AP Photo/Ron Frehm

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Kris Kristofferson is remembered not only for his contributions to film and music after his death, but also for his character.

Following his death at age 88 on Saturday, September 28, fans of Kristofferson have reflected on some other memorable moments in the singer-songwriter’s career, such as when he comforted Sinéad O’Connor after her controversial performance in 1992 Saturday Night Live.

After the “Nothing Compares 2 U” singer – who died in July 2023 at the age of 56 – notably ripped up a photo of Pope John II in response to the Catholic Church’s alleged cover-up of child sexual abuse at the time, said O’ Connor was scheduled to perform at a Bob Dylan tribute concert at Madison Square Garden in New York City just a few weeks later.

During the performance on October 16, 1992, as the musician was greeted with both boos and belligerent cheers from the audience, Kristofferson put an arm around O’Connor and gave her a few words of encouragement.

AP Photo/Ron Frehm

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She wrote about the ordeal in her 2021 memoir Memories: Scenes from my complicated lifein which she described the boos and cheers as “a noise the likes of which I have never heard and which I can only describe as being like a clap of thunder that never ends.”

Related: Sinéad O’Connor had no regrets about her infamous “Saturday Night Live” incident in 1992

“The loudest noise I’ve ever heard. “I feel really sick and my eardrums are about to burst,” O’Connor wrote. “I walk back and forth on stage for a while. I realize I’m f—ed when I start the song because the vocals are so whispered that both sides will drown me out in the audience battle,” she continued. “And I can’t afford not to be heard; the booers will take it as a victory.”

While O’Connor was scheduled to perform Dylan’s 1979 track “I Believe in You,” she instead decided to sing an a cappella version of Bob Marley’s “War.”

Michael N. Todaro/Getty

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“I keep pacing, which becomes awkward for everyone backstage because the show has to go on as planned, so someone sends Kris Kristofferson (he tells me this later) to get her off stage,” O wrote ‘Connor.

As Kristofferson made her way to O’Connor, she wrote in her book that she thought at the time, “I don’t need a man to save me, thank you.”

“It’s so embarrassing,” O’Connor wrote. “’Don’t let the bastards get you down,’ he says into my microphone. And we walk off stage and I almost puke on him when he hugs me.”

Related: Kris Kristofferson, A star is born Actor and country music legend dies at 88

Speaking to RTÉ One’s Saturday evening with Miriam In August 2010, Kristofferson recalled thinking at the time that O’Connor’s SNL Gesture was “very misunderstood”

“I went out. They told me to get her off the stage and I said, ‘I won’t do that.’ [that]” he said. “I walked out and said, ‘Don’t let the bastards get you down.’ And she said, ‘I’m not down,’ and she sang.”

“It was very brave,” he added of the then 26-year-old O’Connor. “It just seemed wrong to boo that little girl out there, but she always had courage.”

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A rep for Kristofferson confirmed to PEOPLE that he died “peacefully” this weekend surrounded by his family at his home in Maui.

“It is with heavy hearts that we share the news that our husband/father/grandfather Kris Kristofferson passed away peacefully at home on Saturday, September 28th. We are all so blessed for our time with him. “Thank you for loving him all these many years and when you see a rainbow, know that he is smiling down on all of us,” the family statement said.

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