Sinead O’Connor was never one to shy away from standing up for what she believed in, often doing so in bold ways. One of the many ways she asserted her integrity was when she refused to have the national anthem play before her show at Performing Arts Center in Saratoga, New York, in 1990 – much to the dismay of Frank Sinatra.
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While it was typical for the venue to play the national anthem before each event, O’Connor specifically requested that it not be played at her show. The Irish singer insisted that the move was not anti-American, but rather a standard practice in all countries she performed in.
“I sincerely harbor no disrespect for America or Americans, but I have a policy of not having any national anthems played before my concerts in any country, including my own, because they have nothing to do with music in general,” she said in a statement at the time, according to the Los Angeles Times.
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But the issue went much deeper. O’Connor’s decision also stemmed from the controversy taking place in Florida at the time surrounding hip-hop group 2 Live Crew’s As Nasty as They Wanna Be album that was deemed obscene by a federal district judge and made illegal in certain counties in Florida. One such place was Broward County where three of the band members were arrested after they performed songs from the album at Club Futura in Hollywood.
“I am concerned though, because today, we’re seeing other artists arrested at their own concerts,” O’Connor continued in her statement in reference to the 2 Live Crew arrest. “There is a disturbing trend towards censorship of music and art in this country and people should be alarmed over that far more than my actions on Friday.”
Sinatra didn’t take too kindly to O’Connor’s rejection of the anthem. At his show at the Garden State Arts Center in New Jersey shortly after the uproar, Sinatra delivered words that were brief, but brutal. “This must be one stupid broad. I’d kick her ass if she were a guy. She must beat her kids to stay in shape,” Sinatra allegedly told the crowd, according to the 2008 book, Sinatra in Hollywood. The legendary crooner wasn’t the only angry person. Then-New York state Senator Nicholas Spano urged people to boycott O’Connor’s show, while the venue itself banned her from performing there again.
She doubled down on her decision at the 1990 MTV Video Music Awards – where she won three awards for “Nothing Compares 2 U” including Video of the Year. The trophy made her the first woman to win the coveted category. She then further addressed that the choice to not play the anthem was rooted in anti-racism.
“It’s the (American) system I have disrespect for, which imposes censorship on people, which as far as I’m concerned is racism,” she said to reporters backstage. “I didn’t want to go on stage after the national anthem of a country that’s harassing people when they perform at gigs.”
O’Connor passed away in July 2023 at the age of 56.
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