Ashlee Simpson is determined to stay optimistic about her career, despite being booed by 72,000 people at the Orange Bowl half-time show in Miami last week. Simpson tells MTV News, "There was some booing that went on after the half-time show was finished. If they didn't like the performance--and that's what it was about--then sorry to them."

The Oklahoma Sooners and the University of Southern California Trojans battled for the national college football championship at the Orange Bowl. Simpson speculated that it was the Oklahoma Sooners fans booing her because a film clip of her rooting for USC was shown before her performance.

Simpson says the Orange Bowl performance and her lip-synching mishap on Saturday Night Live a few months ago was a learning experience. She says, "I go from having a Number One album and things going great and all of a sudden SNL happens and boom! You're faced with how mean people can be and criticizing you and stuff...But I've learned a lot about myself. I'm still 20, and a new artist, and I will only grow."

Simpson kicks off her first concert tour on February 16 in Anaheim, California.

In related news, a New York City teenager is so fed up with Ashlee Simpson that she started a petition to put an end to the pop star's career. The online petition states, "We, the undersigned, are disgusted with Ashlee Simpson's horrible singing and hereby ask her to stop. Stop recording, touring, modeling and performing. We do not wish to see her again."

Bethany Decker, an 18-year-old from Staten Island, New York, tells LAUNCH that she started the petition a few days after Simpson was booed at the Orange Bowl. She says, "My friend, Steve, called up after her performance to tell me how bad it was so I went online and got a clip. After chatting with a lot of people that just really wanted to express their anger, I decided that a petition might actually do something."

Decker says that she and the many music fans who signed her petition feel that artists should land record deals based on their artistic merit. She says, "I guess I did it, mostly because I'm just sick of record companies deciding who is popular... We want people who have talent. People who can sing, and don't need their voices retouched for their CD. Artists whose CDs reflect how they actually sound."

The Stop Ashlee Simpson petition--which is available at petitiononline.com--has been signed by almost 5,000 people since it launched on January 6. The petition is addressed to Simpson's record label, Geffen/DGC Records and her management company, JT Simpson Entertainment.