AceShowbiz - Ashlee Simpson's infamous lip-sync incident on October 23, 2004, left "Saturday Night Live" audiences shocked. However, Lorne Michaels, the show's creator, managed to stay remarkably composed amidst the chaos. This insight comes from a recently resurfaced unaired clip featured in the "60 Minutes: A Second Look" podcast.

The incident unfolded when Simpson, the show's musical guest that week, experienced technical difficulties during her second performance of the night. The wrong vocals played, repeating her earlier song "Pieces of Me." Simpson, clearly startled, tried to cover up the error by dancing briefly before walking off the stage.

Michaels, in an archived interview from 2004, explained his reaction to the snafu. "Oh, I think accidents happen. I think that's the nature of live television," he told journalist Lesley Stahl. He compared the situation to a ballgame being rained out, emphasizing that such events are beyond one's control. "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," Michaels added.

Despite the public uproar, Michaels maintained that the incident did not harm SNL's reputation. "No, I think the reputation of the show was hurt. No, I think it's like, it happened, it was live, it kind of blew up. And lots of times that's happened," he said. He also dismissed the idea that he had orchestrated the lip-syncing as a trick on the audience, humorously remarking, "Honestly, if I were to try and pull one over, it would be much more complicated than that."

Simpson later reflected on the incident in the "Broad Ideas With Rachel Bilson & Olivia Allen" podcast, detailing the challenges she faced that day. She recounted how voice issues due to nodules had prompted her to consider canceling her performance, a decision she was ultimately pressured into avoiding by using pre-recorded vocals.

"I had done my rehearsal the night before and then I woke up the next day and I couldn't speak," Simpson explained. "My band's never practiced this, this is not going to go well, I can't do this," she recalled thinking at the time.

Ashlee Simpson admitted that the incident was a humbling experience. "It taught me humility, it taught me so much about myself and my own personal strength," she confessed. Despite the professional setback, Simpson learned "the power of my no" and the importance of standing her ground in difficult situations.

Ultimately, Simpson's career continued after the SNL incident, and she even made a return to the show the following year. Her experience serves as a reminder of the unpredictability of live television and the resilience needed to navigate public missteps.