Lorne Michaels Explains Ashlee Simpson’s InfamousSNLLip-Sync Fiasco in Unaired60 MinutesClip: 'Accidents Happen'

Mar. 15, 2025

Ashlee Simpson on ‘Saturday Night Live’ in 2004.Photo:Dana Edelson/NBCU Photo Bank

Dana Edelson/NBCU Photo Bank

Nearly 20 years afterAshlee Simpson’s infamous lip-sync snafuonSaturday Night Live, we’re getting a better picture of howLorne Michaelsreacted to the public blowback in 2004.

“I think accidents happen. I think that’s the nature of live television,” Michaels, now 79, told60 Minutes’Lesley Stahlin the unaired clip.

Ashlee Simpson on ‘Saturday Night Live’ in 2004.Dana Edelson/NBCU Photo Bank

Stahl and her crew were famously on theSNLset the week of Simpson’s October 2004 guest appearance on the show, capturing footage of her leaving the stage in tears over the state of her voice after rehearsal.

They were also there for the show’s live taping, when a technical mix-up caused the audio track for her song “Pieces of Me,” which she had already performed, to begin playing during her second musical performance of the episode, revealing that she had been lip-syncing. The pop star did a little dance and walked off the stage seconds after the performance began, the first time inSNL’s 30-year history that such a thing had happened.

In a follow-up interview that aired during the Oct. 31, 2004, episode of60 Minutes, Michaels confirmed that he’d been unaware that Simpson intended to lip sync, but brushed off criticism. “Life goes on,” he said, “And the great part aboutSaturday Night Liveis there’s always next week.”

But there was more to the interview. On60 Minutes: A Second Look, producer Denise Cetta said that Michaels had been eager to sit down with Stahl again following Simpson’sSNLepisode. “He wanted to clear the air that this was not something that was common practice atSaturday Night Live,” she explained.

In the unaired portions of their chat, Stahl pressed Michaels about the public’s reaction to the fiasco.

Lorne Michaels in July 2024.Julien M. Hekimian/Getty

Julien M. Hekimian/Getty

“You know, there’s things that are…you know, that you’re not in control of,” he said. “It’s like the same way you’d feel if you’re a ballplayer and it’s rained out. It really doesn’t have anything to do with you. You don’t control the rain. And I think in this case it was much more what just happened, which is I think what everybody else felt.”

“I was in the control room going, ‘Well, I mean there’s just — there’s just egg out there now. I mean there’s — there was nothing to watch,’ ” he said of his reaction in the moment.

“No,” he insisted, adding that a lot would depend on the60 Minutesstory. “But I — no, I don’t think the reputation of the show was hurt. No, I think it’s like, it happened, it was live, it didn’t — it kind of blew up. And lots of times that’s happened.”

“Honestly, if I were to try and pull one over, it would be much more complicated than that,” Michaels joked.

Ashlee Simpson Ross in July 2024.Paul Archuleta/Getty

Paul Archuleta/Getty

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“It taught me humility, it taught me so much about myself and my own personal strength,” she said, adding that the embarrassing moment had also taught her “how to get back up and go again.”

source: people.com