Hozier was the musical guest on Saturday Night’s holiday edition of “Saturday Night Live,” and for his second song, the Irish artist paid tribute to the Pogues classic “Fairytale of New York.”

On social media, viewers praised Hozier’s emotional cover of the song, which has become a Christmas standard since its release in 1987, and found it a fitting tribute to Pogues singer Shane MacGowan, who died in 2013, as well as the late Kristy MacColl, who performed at the Song performed a duet with MacGowan.

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“Hozier’s performance of ‘Fairytale of New York’ has to be the most Irish thing ever and I’m here for it,” one fan wrote on X.

“Beautiful version of ‘Fairytale of New York’ by Hozier and his backing singers that made Shane MacGowan and Kirsty MacColl proud,” wrote Sinead O’Brien on the tag.” Bowdlerizing, according to the dictionary, means “the removal of material deemed inappropriate or is considered offensive, from (a text or account).” O’Brien was referring to a line in the song’s original lyrics that is now considered offensive: “You scumbag, you maggot, you cheap, lousy faggot.”

Hozier and his backup singers instead sang “You scumbag, you maggot, you’re cheap and you’re skinny,” and one singer winked during the changed lyrics. Back in 1992, MacColl performed the song with the same lyric change. The line “You’re an old bitch on junk” was also understandably lost along the way.

MacGowan, who reportedly may have written the song in response to Elvis Costello’s request to come up with a Christmas song, once described “Fairytale” as the act of “those old Irish-American Broadway stars who sit around at Christmas and talk about whether there are things going well.”

Hozier’s first appearance on “Saturday Night Live” was “Too Sweet” from his 2024 EP “Unheard.”

Watch Hozier’s performance of “Fairytale of New York” below.

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