Jessica Simpson Resurrects Her 2003 Chicken Of The Sea Joke—And It’s Still Funny
Jessica Simpson may never live down that chicken-tuna blunder she made while filming an episode of her former MTV reality show with ex-husband Nick Lachey — especially since she keeps bringing it up. The 36-year-old pop star-turned-fashion guru shared an Instagram screenshot of a recent Time magazine article about Whole Foods. The health food grocery chain recently recalled over 400 pounds of mislabeled buffalo chicken salad products that really contained tuna, which is an allergen. Simpson used the unfortunate incident as an opportunity to rehash one of her most memorable scenes from MTV’s Newlyweds: Nick & Jessica.
“It happens to the best of us @wholefoods,” Simpson wrote.
Fans of Jessica Simpson surely remember the line that went viral 14 years ago after Jessica and her then-hubby were eating canned tuna from as part of the Atkins diet. Simpson became confused by the Chicken of the Sea label on the can and then began to question exactly what she was eating.
“Is this chicken, what I have, or is this fish?” Jessica famously asked Nick. “I know it’s tuna but it says, ‘Chicken By the Sea.’ Is that stupid?”
The look on Lachey’s face was priceless as he explained to Jessica that Chicken of the Sea was just the brand name.
“You act like you’ve never had tuna before,” the frustrated 98 Degrees alum said to Simpson.
Simpson later said she understood and just “read it wrong.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2h72aXVP8o
Fans ate the exchange up, and since then, Simpson hasn’t shied away from the viral line. Shortly after the famous Newlyweds episode aired, Simpson told Larry King Live guest host Ryan Seacrest that some fans could relate to her gaffe.
“I get men that come up to me, my wife is just like you, and there are people that actually do say, my wife thought Chicken of the Sea was chicken,” Jessica revealed.
Simpson added that before the episode aired and she saw it on TV, she didn’t even remember the incident. Lachey added that stuff like that happened “every day” when he was married to Jessica.
Jessica Simpson first poked fun at her tuna gaffe in a 2004 Saturday Night Live skit, which had her confusing the tuna brand name with a bunch of other products. And last fall, Simpson joked about her biggest blonde moment ever by tweeting a picture of a chicken “swimming” in the ocean, with the caption, “Maybe Jessica Simpson was on to something?”
Perhaps Jessica Simpson keeps recycling her Chicken of the Sea joke because she knows her reality TV days are done. Simpson, who is now married to NFL player Eric Johnson and is a mom to two children, Maxwell and Ace, told the Today show she has no plans to put her family in front of reality TV cameras. Simpson told Today her experience as a reality star is “very rear view [mirror].”
“Having a camera on me at all times, I mean we all know I stick my foot in my mouth a little bit too much,” Jessica admitted.
Newlyweds ended in 2005 and Nick and Jessica divorced in 2006.
[Featured Image by KGC-146/STAR MAX/AP Images]