Hecate
Adam Lambert is currently on a tear. He has every right to be, so go away, Adam. He slammed ABC for acting like jerks after his performance at the American Music Awards in 2009. He had just placed second on season eight of american idol after being afraid of not being accepted because of his homosexuality. Following his Idol performance, Weekly entertainment wrote a favorable article about Adam that highlighted his approach to his sexuality as what made him such a great competitor. So Adam walked into his AMA performance confident enough to improvise a kiss with his onstage bassist. After the show, the stuffy old ABC lost its fragile mind, banned it for a while, and threatened to sue. In response to ABC’s antiquated backlash, Adam decided to, “Be as gay as I can be.”
Adam Lambert has opened up about his experience at the 2009 American Music Awards – and what he says was ABC’s backlash after he kissed a musician on stage during the telecast.
Lambert was accepting an award at the 2023 Creative Coalition Spotlight Initiative Gala when he made the comments, according to Entertainment Weekly’s Patrick Gomez.
“I did the kind of performance that I had seen since my teenage years,” Lambert said of her 2009 performance. “I was pretty sexy and I had dancers on stage, and I did some suggestive moves with some dancers and an impromptu kiss with my bassist.”
“I felt it,” added the singer.
But according to Lambert, ABC (which televised the awards show) had a less than positive reaction to her onstage kiss.
“I walked offstage and got in trouble. The network was like, ‘How dare you?’ They banned me for a while,” Lambert said, per EW. “They threatened me with a lawsuit. It was like, ‘Oh, okay, this is where we are.’ ‘”
The “American Idol” alum said he “didn’t know” his flirtatious performance would rub some the wrong way.
“I was in a bubble in Los Angeles among artists, weirdos, and I didn’t realize that kind of thing would ruffle feathers like that,” Lambert explained.
Lambert went on to say in his acceptance speech that he then decided “to be as gay as possible” regardless of the consequences.
“If it gets me in trouble, it gets me in trouble, but I’m not going to back down,” the singer said of his decision to be “flamboyant” and “wild.”
ABC is of course owned by Disney, which is notoriously hypocritical on their LGBTQIA+ policies. I posted the video of the performance below. The kiss lasts about 4:10 and it’s clearly not planned because it’s as awkward as it gets. Maybe the bassist should be offended. But not ABC, there was nothing offensive or anything to push back. It was a sexually charged performance, bondage themed, a kiss was the sweetest thing. Making a fuss about it being two men was just plain stupid. Also, I love that the network has an issue with Adam kissing his bassist, but they’re pretty much okay with him smashing a man’s face in his crotch at 1:05. The fact that they pushed Adam to be as flamboyant as he wants is delightful. Good for him.
As I said, Adam has had a few points to make lately. Last week he reacted to the news that Theo James can be cast like George Michael in a biopic. Adam posted on Instagram“Yay another straight man playing a gay icon. This week, however, he precised his point, saying, “I don’t think in any way that gay characters can only be played by gay actors. That would be ridiculous. But Adam believes that gay Icons are different and should only be played by gay actors. I will not dispute this point. I will mention that Adam is currently starring in the film Fairylandwhose lead role, Scoot McNairy is a straight man playing a gay man based on author real gay dad. And point out that Adam could possibly pass for George with the right makeup. And he can sing and act. Again, I’m not saying Adam isn’t right, I’m just giving you all the information.
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