Ashlee Simpson Revisits SNL Lip-Sync Controversy, 20 Years Later: ‘It Was a Humbling Moment for Me’
Ashlee Simpson is revisiting her infamous Saturday Night Live performance in a new podcast interview.
On the latest episode of Rachel Bilson’s Broad Ideas, the “Pieces of Me” singer recalls “losing my f—king voice” the morning she was set to make her SNL debut, on Oct. 23, 2004.
“I had done my rehearsal the night before, then I woke up the next day and I couldn’t speak,” Simpson claims. “I saw the voice doctor that day, and I had two nodules beating against each other. That was a rough go.
“That day I said, ‘I will not go on. I do not care. I can’t speak,'” she recalls. “Meanwhile, I’m not saying this. I’m writing it down because I can’t talk.”
Alas, Simpson did go on, and her initial performance of “Pieces of Me” went off without a hitch. But when it came time for her planned second song, “Autobiography,” her vocals for “Pieces of Me” bizarrely began playing again before she’d even lifted the microphone to sing. What followed was a painful minute in which Simpson did an awkward jig, shrugged helplessly and exited the stage, leaving her band to play until a merciful commercial break.
TVLine deemed it one of the 20 most shocking live TV moments of all time.
At the end of the SNL episode — which lives on Peacock… minus Simpson’s performances — the 7th Heaven actress alleged that it was her band that started to play the wrong song, leaving her confused. Only later did it come to light that she’d lost her voice.
“It was a humbling moment for me,” Simpson says now, reflecting on the blowback she received. “To learn how to tune that out… to find my strength… to get up and go again.”
Above all else, she says, it taught her “the power of my no.”
Watch Simpson’s Broad Ideas interview above — SNL talk begins at the 45:00 mark — then hit the comments with your reactions.
Again. The old argument. If this embarrassing moment never happened, would you be humbled now? Probably not. But so relieved a celeb learned humility. [snicker]
If you’re that burnt out, take a break.
She blamed the bad back then and never publicly apologised. Now she blames everyone else, yet again. Nothing about what she said was humble. Humble would have been “I tried to pass off lip-syncing as a live performance. I had lost my voice and I was advised not to cancelled and I took that advice. I made a fool of myself. I unjustly blamed my band. i should have been honest and just apologised”.
Read the article again. She IS being humble and taking responsibility. She didn’t then, but she is now. If you weren’t such a misogynist, you can see that Ashlee’s being humble.
No one has ever been convinced of anything by being called a misogynist.
Quote where. And, OMG, misogyny is to use such a real thing, as misogyny, as a trump card in internet discussions. It completes belittles the issue, which is a grave one. How can you be so cavalier about it? Anyway, she talks about being humble while only offering excuses and pointing fingers. She didn’t accept responsibility fully even once.
It’s very common for artists to lip sync on SNL. It’s not a big thing and you getting bent out of shape about something so insignificant says more about you actually.
Cheers.
It’s actually not.
Actually no.
At least you admit you have an unhealthy obsession with this topic.
Your many posts on here clearly state that. It’s just weird.
Ashlee definitely didn’t deserve the intense public blowback she endured at the time it happened. It’s unfortunate because she never quite recovered from that, despite her contributions to the mid 2000s pop-punk music wave.
I agree. She didn’t do anything that many other artists did and still do in “Live” performances that fans pay hundreds and hundreds of dollars to attend. In my view blaming her band was the biggest problem in all this. But she was young and she panicked.
Everyone has a bad performance now and then. What’s worth pointing out is that this ruined her music career. It was OVER. So, this less an isolated incident of “I lost my voice”, and instead an indictment of her vocal skills. When you’re caught lip syncing, it leads some to wonder if you’re even the artist on the track. Just ask Milli Vanilli…
Ashlee’s vocals, at the time, were awful in many occasions. Her father, who successfully managed her sister, an actual vocalist with a lot of range, gave her a career through nepotism. She didn’t have what it took to back it up. Like Kelly Osborne, Aaron Carter and other nepobabies of the early aughts.
She will never escape this. 😄
She should perform on SNL again. With her new face, no one will recognize her! Clean slate.
Minus the insult I do think she should come back and do the song she messed up and one of her other hits. Why not?
I remember this and the terrible Orange Bowl performance where they tried to boo her out the stadium.
Girl, just admit that you lip-sync sometimes, for whatever reason, and that particular time you got caught. Own it, laugh it off, but stop with the stories and the faux-humility. Eye-roll emoji. Shrug emoji. Moving on.