Sinead O'Connor reveals she was pelted with 'a load of eggs' outside 30 Rock after ripping up a photo of the pope on 'SNL'

• Sinead O'Connor faced scrutiny for ripping up a photo of Pope John Paul II on "SNL" in 1992.
• Two men threw eggs at her as she was leaving 30 Rock, she said in an excerpt from her memoir.
• O'Connor recalled chasing the culprits into an alley and saying: "don't be throwing eggs at women."

Irish singer-songwriter Sinead O'Connor became the subject of widespread criticism after tearing up a photo of Pope John Paul II on a 1992 episode of NBC's "Saturday Night Live."

Some people responded by taking immediate action against O'Connor, including the individuals waiting for her outside of 30 Rock, the longtime home of "SNL," with eggs on hand.

In an excerpt from her new memoir, "Rememberings," that Rolling Stone published on Sunday, O'Connor recalled confronting two men that pelted eggs at her and her personal assistant, Ciara, as they exited the building.

"Outside 30 Rock, two young men are waiting for me and they throw a load of eggs at us both," she wrote, adding, "But what they don't know is myself and Ciara are able to run a hundred meters in 11.3 seconds."

O'Connor said they chased after the egg-tossing duo and caught up with them in an alley, discovering the men with their backs pressed against a fence they were unable to climb.

"All we say, laughing at them, is 'Hey, don't be throwing eggs at women.' The two of them are so shocked at being chased and caught that they start laughing too, and it all ends very friendly," O'Connor said in her book.

The foursome then exited the alleyway together, and O'Connor said the men helped her and Ciara find a taxi to transport them back to their hotel.

Not everyone was so forgiving to O'Connor after she tore up the photo, her method of protesting abuse in the Catholic Church.

The "Nothing Compares 2 U" singer said NBC permanently banned her from appearing on the network ever again. She said being blacklisted hurt "a lot less than rapes hurt those Irish children."

Then came the on-screen ridicule. Actor Joe Pesci went on "SNL" and told the audience he would have given O'Connor a "smack" and "grabbed her by her eyebrows" if he was in charge of the NBC comedy-sketch series.

And during pop star Madonna's appearance on "SNL," she mimicked O'Connor by tearing up a picture of Joey Buttafuoco, an autobody shop owner that became '90s tabloid fodder after he had sexual relations with a minor that shot his wife.

"Fight the real enemy," Madonna yelled to the audience, regurgitating O'Connor's words about Pope John Paul II.

O'Connor was also booed off stage while performing at a Bob Dylan celebration concert shortly after her "SNL" performance.

Despite the polarized reactions to her behavior on "SNL" (some have applauded O'Connor for drawing attention to abuse in the Catholic Church nearly a decade before the pope addressed it in 2001), the musician stands by her actions.

"I'm not sorry I did it. It was brilliant," she told The New York Times in May ahead of the "Rememberings'" release, adding, "But it was very traumatizing."

"It was open season on treating me like a crazy b----," O'Connor said.