Lana Del Rey spills on being ‘crucified’ after infamous SNL gig

Lana Del Rey has defended her critically bashed Saturday Night Live performance, saying “it wasn’t terrible”.

Elton John reached out to Lana Del Rey with some advice after the singer was lambasted for her first performance on Saturday Night Live in 2012.

“That’s the first time I ever talked to you,” John, 72, said in a new Rolling Stone magazine conversation with Del Rey, 34.

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“I rang you up and said, ‘Listen, I just want to offer my help. I know you’re sober and everything, but just don’t take any notice of these people’.”

Lana Del Rey was slammed for her SNL performance, with many calling her "the worst musical guest ever to appear on the show". Picture: YouTube.

He added, commending her for pushing through the criticism: “Most people, that would have flattened them forever. It was an outrageous assault.”

Elton John rang Lana Del Rey following the trainwreck performance. Picture: AFP.

During the SNL performance, Del Rey performed her songs Blue Jeans and Video Games. She was panned by the media, and Brian Williams even called it “one of worst outings in SNL history”.

You can relive the uncomfortable performance below:

“(It) was so distressing for someone like me to see someone so crucified,” John said.

“I’ve watched it, and it wasn’t that bad!”

Del Rey, who just dropped her 6th studio album Norman F**king Rockwell, agreed she didn’t think her performance was terrible.

Lana Del Rey said her SNL performance ‘wasn’t terrible’. Picture: Getty.

John continued: “It wasn’t terrible at all. I don’t know what the agenda was there, but where was the #MeToo movement there?”

“Oh, you said it, not me!” Del Rey responded.

Del Rey also recalled not being nervous at all for the performance, calling it “the one night in all my time performing that I wasn’t nervous.”

“I remember the intention I had,” she added.

“Looking back, there was a more eccentric performative approach to it. I was thinking about Maria Callas, or someone darker coming through.”

The singer said she wasn't nervous at all during performances of both Video Games and Blue Jeans. Picture: YouTube.

“I’m sure it gave you a lot of trauma. But it also gave you incredible backbone,” John went on, bringing up Ashlee Simpson, who famously lip-synched her SNL performance in 2004. “And I didn’t think it was a major f**k-up. I saw Ashlee Simpson and, yeah, that’s a major f — k-up. That’s funny. Not to her it isn’t, but it’s very funny to watch.”

Del Rey quipped, “I’m not laughing!”

The infamously awkward performance prompted a follow-up SNL skit in which Kristen Wiig impersonated the singer.

'I think people thought I was stiff, distant and weird,' the comedian said in the skit. Picture: YouTube.

Del Rey addressed the performance previously in a 2012 interview with Rolling Stone, saying she “actually felt good about it.”

“I thought I looked beautiful and sang fine,” she told the publication.

This article originally appeared in the NY Post and was reproduced with permission