{"id":149857,"date":"2025-02-13T12:00:03","date_gmt":"2025-02-13T12:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/13\/ashlee-simpsons-disastrous-snl-performance-explained\/"},"modified":"2025-02-13T12:00:03","modified_gmt":"2025-02-13T12:00:03","slug":"ashlee-simpsons-disastrous-snl-performance-explained","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/13\/ashlee-simpsons-disastrous-snl-performance-explained\/","title":{"rendered":"Ashlee Simpson’s Disastrous SNL Performance Explained"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\n Ashlee Simpson on SNL.<\/span> Courtesy of Peacock<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ashlee Simpson<\/strong><\/a>\u2018s career changed forever on October 23, 2004, when her musical performance on Saturday Night Live<\/em><\/a> went completely and hopelessly wrong.<\/p>\n

Simpson found herself in the middle of a live TV disaster when an incorrect lip sync track for her hit \u201cPieces of Me\u201d started playing at the wrong time. The 7th Heaven<\/em> star was understandably frazzled by the technical meltdown, so she responded in the only logical way\u2026 by doing a hoedown dance.<\/p>\n

Nearly 21 years later, Saturday Night Live<\/em>\u2018s production team lifted the lid on their backstage panic during Simpson\u2019s botched performance as part of the new Peacock documentary Ladies & Gentlemen\u2026 50 Years of SNL Music<\/em>, which is codirected by Questlove<\/strong> of The Roots and Oz Rodriguez<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The documentary shows exclusive behind-the-scenes footage from the night and offers a definitive explanation for what exactly went wrong.<\/p>\n

SNL<\/em> producer Marci Klein<\/strong> recalled in the Peacock special that she\u2019d \u201cheard rumblings that Ashlee had a sore throat and wasn\u2019t feeling well\u201d hours before the dress rehearsal, where the singer was due to test out both tracks.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was decreed that she would lipsync for the second song [in the live show] just to save her voice,\u201d SNL<\/em> music mixer Josiah Gluck<\/strong> confirmed. \u201cSomehow, between dress and air, it was decreed that she would lip sync both songs.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n Ashlee Simpson<\/span> Paul Archuleta\/Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

During the live show, Simpson got through her first song, \u201cPieces of Me,\u201d without any noticeable trouble, but things quickly fell apart when host Jude Law<\/strong> introduced her second track, \u201cAutobiography.\u201d<\/p>\n

Simpson\u2019s band were drowned out by pre-recorded vocals from \u201cPieces of Me\u201d playing even though the singer was holding the microphone at her side at the time. The lip sync track was silenced after a few seconds, but by that time, Simpson\u2019s band had started to play \u201cPieces of Me\u201d in hopes of covering up the mistake.<\/p>\n

\u201cI heard the director say something like, \u2018Holy s\u2014,’\u201d Gluck remembered. \u201cIt was just like those old movies of two locomotives hitting each other, full bore.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n Related: <\/span>Josh Hutcherson Remembers ‘SNL’ Being His ‘1st-Ever Live Audience’<\/span><\/a>
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\n\t\t\tSaturday Night Live\u2019s stage has played host to icons from Harry Styles to Betty White, and many of its celebrity guests have gushed over reaching the impressive career milestone. \u201cI can\u2019t believe I am hosting Saturday Night Live. I\u2019m not sure many of you know that I\u2019m 88 and a half years old,\u201d White, who [\u2026]\t\t<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

On stage, Simpson started performing a hoedown-style dance for several seconds before Saturday Night Live<\/em> mercifully cut away entirely. Among those watching from home in total confusion was future cast member Bowen Yang<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was in my basement, 13 years old [and] sexually confused because Jude Law was the host. In the moment of it happening, you weren\u2019t really sure what was going on,\u201d Yang said.<\/p>\n

While Simpson wasn\u2019t at fault at all for the technical error in her performance, she would later be criticized for wrongly blaming her band during SNL<\/em>\u2018s Goodnights segment.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy band started playing the wrong song and I didn\u2019t know what to do so I thought I\u2019d do a hoedown. I\u2019m sorry,\u201d she told SNL viewers with a shrug.<\/p>\n

Years later, Simpson credited her SNL<\/em> debacle with teaching her to be more assertive<\/a> when she wasn\u2019t comfortable.<\/p>\n

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\n Related: <\/span>The Most Viral ‘SNL’ Sketches of 2024: Yes, ‘Domingo’ Is Here<\/span><\/a>
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\n\t\t\tSaturday Night Live wrapped season 49 and kicked off its hallmark season 50 in 2024, delivering a slew of viral cameos and sketches along the way. Perhaps the most viral SNL moment of the year occurred in October when guest host Ariana Grande appeared in a wedding reception sketch, singing a cover of Sabrina Carpenter\u2019s [\u2026]\t\t<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never talked about or said, but it\u2019s like the other thing is, learning as a woman, when you say no or as an artist or a human or whatever, that day I said, \u2018I will not go on, I don\u2019t care. I can\u2019t speak,\u2019\u201d Simpson confirmed during an appearance on the \u201cBroad Ideas With Rachel Bilson & Olivia Allen\u201d podcast in March 2024.<\/p>\n

Simpson revealed that she\u2019d been diagnosed with \u201ctwo nodules beating against each other\u201d at the time, but ultimately agreed to go live on SNL because she feared the repercussions of canceling at the last minute.<\/p>\n

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