Jennifer Hudson Getting a Free Pass After Lip Synching?

Jennifer Hudson made a triumphant return to the public spotlight at Super Bowl XLIII after tragedy struck her family just months ago, singing the national anthem before the game’s kickoff. The problem here, of course, is that she didn’t sing at all, instead choosing to go the route of Ashlee Simpson and Milli Vanilli and lip synch the national anthem prior to the game. In fairness, Hudson does at least sing her own songs on the records, while the aforementioned Milli Vanilli were seemingly chosen at random to lip-synch songs that others had recorded and then dance around (rather foolishly, in hindsight) for the videos.

While our human side says give Hudson a pass, another part of us wants to ask "Why?" Certainly, the fact that Hudson’s mother, brother and 7-year-old nephew were shot and killed in October means that we should be giving Jennifer a break, but we have to at least wonder why she was chosen if she wasn’t going to sing.

Asked why Hudson lip-synched the Super Bowl’s pre-game song, "producer" Ricky Minor said, "This was such an important performance, because it’s the first time everyone has seen Jennifer. But she’s in a great place, with such great spirits, and time can heal her wounds. She’s on fire right now and totally grounded." We’re not entirely sure what that means (though we’re glad to hear Jennifer is doing well), but one thing we do know for sure is that there WAS no performance. There was, instead, playback of a really good recording of Hudson singing. Apparently, Hudson asked Minor how she did after the "performance" (we grudgingly call it that – thus the quotes). To which Minor noted, "I told her, ‘Touchdown!’" So appropriate that Ricky Minor, so witty, so…ah, forget it. Our hearts go out to Jennifer…we just hope not to see her lip-synching in the future.