ASHLEE SIMPSON - SIMPSON WAILS AS SHE'S ACCUSED OF RUINING ARTWORK

Pop star ASHLEE SIMPSON was in floods of tears recently, when she was led to believe she'd ruined the work of a dead artist.

The PIECES OF ME singer visited a gallery with pals, and was shown the work of a supposedly dead artist who was so poor he painted on cardboard instead of canvas.

But her evening of admiring art soon turned chaotic when she placed a pal's jacket on a table and pranksters on ASHTON KUTCHER's show PUNK'D pretended it had caught fire on a candle - setting off sprinklers and ruining the paintings.

After everybody was evacuated and organisers demanded to know who was responsible for the blaze, Simpson whispered to a pal, "Please don't blame this on me!"

Eventually, Simpson was deemed responsible and wailed in protest as organisers chastised her for the incident.

On discovering it was all a prank, she told a laughing Kutcher, "I f**king hate you! You a**hole!"

In the same episode, which aired in America on Sunday (24APR05), rapper BIZARRE, of EMINEM's rap collective D12, had a tear in his eye when he was the victim of a false arrest.

But, on discovering it was all a set-up, he now explains, "I wasn't crying... The wind was blowing. My eyes get real watery."