Ashlee Simpson-Ross experienced an “insane” level of “bullying” after her infamous performance on Saturday Night Live.
Ashlee Simpson-Ross faced a backlash after her 2004 SNL performance
The 40-year-old singer became the first musician to walk out of a performance on SNL back in 2004 when her single Pieces of Me incorrectly began to play before she raised her microphone to perform Autobiography, sparking a huge backlash.
And Ashlee – who returned to the show before the credits rolled to try and explain her decision to lip sync was due to a flare-up of acid reflux – isn’t sure she’d have faced the same level of criticism if something similar happened today.
Speaking on Pod Meets World, she said: “I think it’s a different era … I think during that time, I mean, the bullying was insane.”
Ashlee has felt the need to repeatedly explain herself to people.
She said: “But then my whole life, I had to tell people, ‘Oh, but I perform every night.’ My fans know. I had to know that in my heart.
“Yes, I’ve had ups and downs just like every other human.”
The former Melrose Place actress – who has Bronx, 15, with ex-husband Pete Wentz and Jagger, eight, and Ziggy, three, with spouse Evan Ross – thinks the way the internet responds to public mistakes has evolved “but also it hasn’t in some ways”.
She added: “I think it’s different now. For us, we had the magazines and this. Now everything’s kinda more fleeting.”
At the time, the SNL backlash felt like it was on her “shoulders forever”.
But she added: “And I think now everything is, like, a little bit more fleeting and fast.”
Ashlee has previously spoken of how “cruel” the world felt in the wake of the SNL ridicule.
Speaking on her Ashlee + Evan reality show in E! in 2018, she said: “The world hated me for this SNL moment I had.
“I was such a young girl, and the world can be a cruel place. But I learned at that time in my life to believe in my work and in my album and to get up and keep fighting and carrying on.”
“I had amazing fans that stood by me. And I learned to be strong and stand up for yourself.”