Hello Dolly; goodbye Jessica!
From Sarah Hall

LOS ANGELES—Dolly Parton may not have had a problem with Jessica Simpson’s poorly executed rendition of “9 to 5” at the Kennedy Center Honors this month, but the same can’t be said for Simpson herself. The younger singer has asked to be cut from Tuesday’s CBS broadcast of the Dec. 2 awards gala after judging her performance of the Parton classic unacceptable for public consumption.
After her first crack at the song went poorly, causing Simpson to flee the stage in tears, producers gave her a second chance. Unfortunately, the do-over apparently didn’t go much better, and after viewing a tape of her performance, Simpson opted out. “She really wasn’t happy with her performance and she did want it to be perfect for Dolly, who she idolizes,” Simpson’s rep Cindi Berger said in a statement.
Simpson’s unimpressive performance was chalked up to her anxiety over paying tribute to her heroine, which left her “overcome with emotion,” her rep said. After she flubbed the lyrics to “9 to 5” in her initial go-round, Simpson blurted out, “Dolly, you make me so nervous, I can’t even sing the words right.” The next day, she taped a second performance, but even without Parton and assorted dignitaries looking on, she was apparently unable to deliver. Parton spoke up in Simpson’s support earlier this month, denying any hard feelings over the less than stellar tribute.
“Jessica is so talented that I’m sure that someday they will be paying tribute to her, and I would be honored to perform for her,” Parton said in a statement. “But I’ll probably be so nervous that I’ll forget my wig!” The producer of the Kennedy Center Honors show said he respected Simpson’s decision to remove herself from the program. “We appreciate the time and energy Ms. Simpson put into this event and respect the high standards she has for herself and that of the Kennedy Center Honors,” producer George Stevens Jr. said in a statement. Even without Simpson’s contribution to the segment of the broadcast honoring Parton, the country icon won’t be at a loss for accolades.
Reese Witherspoon, Carrie Underwood and Kenny Rogers also paid their respects to Parton at the Washington, D.C. affair, with no requests for second takes. Parton’s fellow honorees included Motown legend Smokey Robinson, filmmaker Steven Spielberg, Broadway mastermind Andrew Lloyd Webber and conductor Zubin Mehta.