Sinead O’Connor’s bizarre Pope Francis claim blasted

I must say the claim by Sinead O’Connor that the organizers of the American Music Awards wanted her to stand alongside Pope Francis on the upcoming AMA show sounded crazy from the get-go.

Turns out it was all some kind of bizarre — and false — story coming from the quirky and frequently-controversial Irish singer.

Of course, there was never any possibility that His Holiness would even be anywhere near the televised music program. A source close to the production told this column Monday, “I’m assuming Sinead was talking about some kind of cardboard cutout of the Pope.”

Anyway, TMZ reports it was O’Connor’s team who actually reached out to the AMAs, not the other way around. While the producers were interested in having the singer appear on the show, there was never any conversation about the pontiff, and say the story is not true.

Of course, O’Connor’s connection to controversial things involving the Roman Catholic Church is nothing new. Her 1992 performance on “Saturday Night Live” — when she ripped apart a photo of Pope John Paul II — got her banned from SNL for life.

After this latest incidence, it appears very unlikely O’Connor will have any role on the this year’s AMA show.