Besides tangling last week with Simon Cowell of "American Idol," the show that gave the ungrateful diva her big break, the singer tried to back out of performing at Saturday's taping of the Soul Train Awards show in Los Angeles.

"Jennifer called Friday and said she couldn't make it," said our source.

"Soul Train" producer Don Cornelius immediately called Clive Davis, the legendary J Records mogul who created the careers of Whitney Houston, Alicia Keyes and dozens of other artists.

"Clive called Jennifer and read her the riot act. He said, 'Get you're ass out to L.A.' and then hung up on her."

The strong talk from her de facto boss evidently worked because "she showed up."

Labels: Jennifer Hudson