The Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY)
May 11, 1990, Friday - METRO Edition

IT'S A WAR ON WORDS AT 'SNL'

JOYCE HOTCHKISS


   The flap over foul-mouthed "Saturday Night Live" guest host Andrew Dice Clay
has widened with a second performer's boycott, but the source of the controversy
has nothing -- scatological or otherwise -- to say.

   Singer Sinead O'Connor announced Wednesday that she has refused to perform on
this week's show, following the example set Monday by cast member Nora Dunn.

   "It would be nonsensical of 'Saturday Night Live' to expect a woman to
perform songs about a woman's experiences after a monologue by Andrew Dice
Clay," O'Connor's publicist, Elaine Schock, said in a phone interview in Pelham,
N.Y.

   Dunn called the comedian's expletive-laden act, which twists nursery rhymes
into deviant sexual tales, "hateful." Others have called his act sexist and
homophobic.

   "Saturday Night Live" producer Lorne Michaels said the defections took him by
surprise. "Suddenly we were getting phone calls and it sort of blindsided us,"
Michaels said in New York.

   Efforts to interview Clay about the controversy were unsuccessful.  "He has
no statement," said Clay publicist Susan Dubow. "He's not doing interviews. He's
rehearsing for 'Saturday Night Live.'