Lorne Michaels Explains Ashlee Simpson’s Infamous “SNL ”Lip-Sync Fiasco in Unaired “60 Minutes” Clip: 'Accidents Happen'

In never-before-heard clips, Michaels reacted to the public backlash to the 2004 incident

Nearly 20 years after Ashlee Simpson’s infamous lip-sync snafu on Saturday Night Live, we’re getting a better picture of how Lorne Michaels reacted to the public blowback in 2004.

The latest episode of CBS News’ new podcast 60 Minutes: A Second Look features never-before heard outtakes from the long-running news magazine show’s October 2004 profile of Michaels and SNL’s season 30 cast — including more of Michaels’s comments on Simpson’s performance.

“I think accidents happen. I think that's the nature of live television,” Michaels, now 79, told 60 Minutes’ Lesley Stahl in the unaired clip.

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Stahl and her crew were famously on the SNL set 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 in SNL’s 30-year history that such a thing had happened.

In a follow-up interview that aired during the Oct. 31, 2004, episode of 60 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 about Saturday Night Live is there’s always next week.”

But there was more to the interview. On 60 Minutes: A Second Look, producer Denise Cetta said that Michaels had been eager to sit down with Stahl again following Simpson’s SNL episode. “He wanted to clear the air that this was not something that was common practice at Saturday Night Live,” she explained.

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

“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.

Stahl asked if Michaels thought SNL’s reputation had been damaged by the incident.

“No,” he insisted, adding that a lot would depend on the 60 Minutes story. “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.”

Stahl noted that part of the reason the incident “blew up” was because there was a perception that Michaels had tried to “pull one over on us” by approving Simpson’s lip-syncing.

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

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Following her SNL performance, Simpson explained that she had been suffering from an acid reflux flare-up which had caused her to lose her voice at the time. The singer, now 39, reflected on the incident earlier this year during a February appearance on the Broad Ideas with Rachel Bilson & Olivia Allen podcast.

“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.”

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