11.01.2004

The Sync That Sank Ashlee: '60 Minutes' Has It Covered

By Lisa de Moraes
Washington Post

About 36 hours before the polls open on Election Day, CBS News's "60 Minutes" will release a report that blows the lid off the Ashlee Simpson lip-syncing scandal.

When Simpson ran off the "Saturday Night Live" stage last week after her lip-sync flap, "60 Minutes" cameras were there to record her embarrassing exit and the reactions of show creator Lorne Michaels and other shocked staff members, the newsmag announced Thursday afternoon.

"The exclusive behind-the-scenes footage of the incident will be part of a Lesley Stahl report about the making of the venerable comedy program" set for Halloween night, CBS News said.

It reports that Stahl and her cameras also caught the dress rehearsal of Simpson's performance when she also ran offstage "because her voice failed her."

"SNL" had allowed "60 Minutes" at Saturday's show to tape one of those pieces about how the show is conceived, written and produced each week, because we've never seen that before.

Simpson has claimed that acute acid reflux disease left her without a voice the night she was the musical guest on the live late-night show, leading to the decision to use a recording of her voice while performing. (In her letter to fans posted on her Web site, she called it "acid refux," but you can't expect a faux pop star to also be a medical expert.)

That leaves unexplained why she was able, at the end of that program, to shout boisterously to the studio audience, and to viewers at home, that her band was to blame for the snafu, in which her voice could be heard singing "Pieces of Me" while her microphone was at her side and her mouth was closed, causing her to panic and walk offstage.

"I feel so bad!" she said loud and clear and with no sign of hoarseness as the show was wrapping. "My band started playing the wrong song! I didn't know what to do!"

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