Ashlee Simpson
Image Source: Glenn Francis, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
What Was the Accusation?
Singer Ashlee Simpson faced widespread criticism after a technical failure during her October 23, 2004 appearance as the musical guest on Saturday Night Live revealed that prerecorded vocals were being used during her performances. Simpson successfully performed her hit “Pieces of Me” earlier in the program. When she returned to perform “Autobiography,” however, the vocal track for “Pieces of Me” began playing again while Simpson’s microphone was lowered. Appearing confused, she briefly danced before leaving the stage while her band continued playing and NBC cut to a commercial.
At the end of the live broadcast, Simpson returned to the stage and said she felt bad, blamed the mishap on her band starting the wrong song, and apologized. The incident immediately generated accusations that she had been lip-syncing. Simpson and her representatives subsequently provided a fuller explanation. Her father and manager, Joe Simpson, said severe acid reflux had left her voice hoarse and that he had encouraged the use of a prerecorded vocal track. Simpson later said she intended to sing along with the track rather than simply mime the performance and attributed the malfunction to her drummer triggering the wrong recording.
The controversy was especially damaging because Simpson had cultivated an image as a live performer and had previously criticized lip-syncing. In subsequent interviews, she acknowledged using the track, described the incident as humiliating, and accepted some responsibility for performing despite having lost her voice. In later reflections, including interviews in 2018 and 2024, Simpson described the episode as a humbling experience that taught her to trust her own judgment and to refuse a performance when she was physically unable to sing.
Key Apologia Strategies
Accident, Shifting Blame, Defeasibility, Mortification
Video
Transcript
Ashlee Simpson’s on-air response at the conclusion of Saturday Night Live, October 23, 2004:
“I feel so bad, my band started playing the wrong song and I didn’t know what to do so I thought I’d do a hoe-down.”
Ashlee Simpson’s October 22, 2005 interview with Ryan Seacrest on Larry King Live:
RYAN SEACREST, HOST: Good evening. It’s Ryan Seacrest in for Larry King, tonight. Let’s start off with our first guest of the evening, the 21-year-old Ashlee Simpson. Good to see you.
ASHLEE SIMPSON, ENTERTAINER: Good to see you.
SEACREST: And happy belated birthday.
A. SIMPSON: Thank you. I’m 21.
SEACREST: How does it feel? Do you feel different?
A. SIMPSON: A little bit, because now I can go to dinner and order a glass of wine. So I feel like an adult sometimes.
SEACREST: You’re dressing like an adult, too.
A. SIMPSON: Yes, some days.
SEACREST: You changed your hair color?
A. SIMPSON: I did. Now I’m blonde.
SEACREST: Yes, is that what happens when you get older? You’re supposed to change the color of it? Because mine will change naturally as I get older.
Let’s start off tonight with a sensitive subject. This is about a year ago, probably the most difficult night in your professional career on “Saturday Night Live.” For those who don’t know, basically, you were performing and a track played of a different song. And then, the report came out the next day, “Ashlee Simpson lip syncs.”
A. SIMPSON: Right.
SEACREST: What did happen that night? A. SIMPSON: Oh boy, that night. Yes, actually, it was cool, because I just went back on “SNL,” so I totally did kind of reminisce that whole experience. I lost my voice, and I was a new artist, and I’d never actually had to do something like that before, but I did use the track.
And we never rehearsed it or anything, and the wrong button was pressed. And it was my fault for losing my voice and not taking care of myself. But the button was pressed, and the wrong song was played.
SEACREST: And at that moment, you’re on live television. Most people just panic.
A. SIMPSON: Right.
SEACREST: What went through your mind in that instance?
A. SIMPSON: I don’t think I knew what to do. And I guess I decided to do the hoedown. And it’s just like an embarrassing moment where I watch myself and I’m like, “Oh, I did the hoedown?” I was just so nervous, I didn’t know what to do, and I was just like, “Do I just keep on going?” It was really, really embarrassing.
SEACREST: And so you come off stage, and who’s the first person that you see? And what did they say to you?
A. SIMPSON: I came offstage, and just seeing everybody’s face, everybody was like, “Oh my.” So I just went to the bathroom and cried for a second. I saw my mom and dad, and I was like, “Hold on one second. I’m going to cry.” I just kind of cried for a second, and my dad was like, “OK, baby, pull yourself together. You have to put your head up and go back out there.”
SEACREST: Were you surprised that — I mean, obviously, when something like that happens with a star, it’s going to be played out in the media. Were you surprised that it continued to replay, that clip, over and over again. I mean, weeks later, months later, and still now, you’re promoting this new album and we’re talking about it.
A. SIMPSON: Right. I really was surprised. I mean, I knew that people were going to talk about it. I knew that people were going to talk about it, I knew it was embarrassing, and I knew it was a big deal. But did I think that it was going to be this thing that followed me for, you know, the next years to come? I guarantee you, 25 years from now, I’ll be known as the girl that lip synced on “SNL.” But, you know, it was a weird thing. Not fun.
SEACREST: So you get through that. Then you’re out in public again at the Orange Bowl, and another night that’s, I guess you’d say, not fun.
A. SIMPSON: Yes, exactly.
SEACREST: What happened that afternoon?
A. SIMPSON: That afternoon, actually, everything was good, going fine. I’d never performed in a stadium before, either. I don’t really — you know, the whole halftime show itself, and I was the last one, and maybe all the boos were at me.
SEACREST: Because when you’re watching at home, you see Ashlee Simpson come out and you hear boos.
A. SIMPSON: Yes.
SEACREST: You know, I thought, “Oh, gosh.” You feel bad at that point. You’re like, “Is she going to go through this again?”
A. SIMPSON: It was awful. You know, actually what did happen though was all of the monitors went out. And if you watch the show, none of us sounded good. None of us had it. I heard Kelly Clarkson singing, and all of a sudden, it’s like crackling in my ears. And it happened to hear, it happened to — all our ears were like (inaudible). I was like, “Oh, no. Here we go.”
SEACREST: Was there ever a point, after all this happened to you, that you thought, “OK, I’ve had it. I just want to give up. I just want to run away and I want to give up with this singing career.”
A. SIMPSON: Well, I mean, again, after the Orange Bowl, I went to my room, dropped to the floor, and started crying again. But there’s something in me, and knowing, like, I had my family, and I really love doing what I do, that, like, picks myself up. And it’s kind of, if anything, been good for me that I went through those things, because I feel stronger as an artist now. I don’t feel like I want to give up. There’s moments where I want to break down and cry, but not give up.
SEACREST: Well, many artists who have huge singles and albums have lived through some serious tragedies in order to come up with those compelling lyrics. I mean, clearly, this now, this instance, has become the inspiration, the catalyst, to your new CD. Talk about writing some of these songs and having to relive all of that, and why you wanted to share the experience all over again through your songs.
A. SIMPSON: Well, it was actually great to write about it, because writing for me is like a release. It’s like, you know, I’m writing my songs, but it’s like my journal, my diary. And that was something this year that was the hardest thing that I went through this year.
And I wrote this song on my record called, “Catch My Fall,” and that’s, you know, a pretty weak song. And usually when I write, I, like, write with some sort of strength, like I want to get out of this situation. And that song, you know, the lyrics are pretty weak and pretty sad because I was weak and sad at moments.
But I also wrote songs about overcoming it and about, you know, getting myself together and finding my, like, inner strength, which is cool because it’s kind of helped me come into my own as an adult. Well, kind of an adult.
SEACREST: You’re an adult. You’re responsible for your actions. A. SIMPSON: Exactly.
SEACREST: What would the album have been about if this hadn’t happened to you? Because this is called “I Am Me.” “I Am Me.”
A. SIMPSON: Yes, exactly. You know, it is love songs and stuff like that on there, so it probably would have been more so about, and whatever life experiences I ended up go through if I didn’t go through that.
SEACREST: Well, you have a sister that’s been successful in music, and she’s been through a lot. Did you call on her for advice? Did you lean on her? And was she supportive? What did she say?
A. SIMPSON: She’s a doll. I mean, Orange Bowl, she was there. And she was like, “Baby, you did good. You worked through it, even though you couldn’t hear and whatever.” And she’s — you know, I’ve seen her go through it, and people one day love her and the next day, you know, they turn their backs on her, or whatever. And she is such a positive role model. So, yes, she’s definitely helped me get through it.
SEACREST: I know you sing live. I’ve seen you perform many times. You performed for me for the radio show that we do. A lot of artists are accused of lip syncing. How common is it? For somebody who’s not in the business, are many of the artists on the charts faking it?
A. SIMPSON: No, I mean, I think there’s definitely times when somebody might lose their voice and have to do that. And maybe in the middle of their show, they do. But, yes, there’s a lot of artists that I think you would be surprised that have done that or do that.
SEACREST: Do you want to name any names?
A. SIMPSON: No, absolutely not. But I can promise you and guarantee you, after that situation, you will never hear me do that.
SEACREST: But you went back on “SNL,” as you said. You wanted to go back and face your fears. What was that night like? It just happened, you get back on that stage. What were people saying before you went out live in front of the audience?
A. SIMPSON: It was actually amazing. Everybody was just, like, so loving and so supportive. And when I went, you know, everybody at “SNL,” they were just like, “Go do it.” So, before I went on stage, I definitely had the butterflies and everything, but I feel like I went through so much this year that I had to have that confidence that time. I had to really, you know, be like, “Here I am. I get the second chance to do this again.” And, you know, we all fall on our face, and it’s OK to be a failure, but I got the second chance to stand up there and…
SEACREST: A story of overcoming.
A. SIMPSON: Yes, exactly. SEACREST: And did you approach them, or did they want you to come back? How did that come together?
A. SIMPSON: I had been wanting to do it, you know, since my last incident. But they approached me to do it that week, so I was so excited it when I heard it.
SEACREST: How did you prepare differently?
A. SIMPSON: I tried to keep calm. I was just like, “OK.” And I didn’t take the star room. They have like a star room where — it’s like the cool green room. I was like, “I want something that does not look nice. Like another day on the road.” You know, just something to make me feel really calm. And I had my family and my band.
SEACREST: So the next day, you woke up, and you felt like, “OK, I did it. It’s hopefully over.”
A. SIMPSON: Yes, after the first song. I mean, if you see it, I sing my first song, and I’m like, “I did it!” like a little kid. But it just felt so good. Right after that I felt really nice. Like, finally!