ROANOKE TIMES

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, May 11, 1990                   TAG: 9005110540
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: E-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associate Press
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES                                LENGTH: Medium


SINGER IS SECOND TO BOYCOTT `SNL' GUEST HOST

Pop singer Sinead O'Connor became the second entertainer to boycott this weekend's "Saturday Night Live" because of guest host Andrew Dice Clay's foul-mouth brand of humor.

"Saturday Night Live" cast member Nora Dunn announced Monday that she will not go on the air because of the comedian's expletive-laden routines - which refer to women as "bitches" and "pigs," seldom outside of a sexual context.

On Wednesday, O'Connor joined the anti-Clay chorus.

"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," her spokeswoman, Elaine Schock, said in a phone interview.

"Saturday Night Live" producer Lorne Michaels said the NBC program will find a new musical guest and the show will go on. And Clay "has given me his word" that he will not violate programming standards, Michaels said.

MTV banned Clay from its cable network last year after he delivered a monologue laced with lewd poetry and references to fat women and sex.

"This is not about dirty words. This is about the language of rape. If you took the word `woman' in his routine and replaced it with `Jew,' I guarantee you that person would not be on Saturday Night Live," Dunn said.

Schock said the Irish singer watched videos of Dice's routine Wednesday and decided to back out of the show.

Clay, whose act has been called racist and homophobic as well as sexist, called Dunn "Nora Dunce" in an interview taped for Wednesday evening on "Entertainment Tonight."

Michaels said the defections took him by surprise.

He said Dunn did not talk to him about boycotting the show, but "if it is about conscience and principles, I have to applaud her for that."



 by CNB