Needless to say, I’ve gotten a lot of feedback on the piece I wrote about Lambert on Monday. Some of the singer’s fans took issue with the fact that I was critical of him at all. (A couple even accused me of being homophobic, which my boyfriend found hilarious.) But most readers agreed that the issue wasn’t the content of the number, it was the quality: It wasn’t well thought out and it was poorly executed. In short, it stunk.
Sadly, many media outlets across the globe appear to be less astute than Pollstar readers and continue to make the focus of the story the “shocking” pseudo-S&M theme of the number. A number of them also seem determined to gin up a fake narrative in which the singer is locked in a fierce battle for the right to be open about his sexuality.
Of course it doesn’t help that they’re being aided and abetted in their effort by Lambert, who has now cast himself in the role of persecuted victim.
Yesterday, when “Good Morning America” pulled the plug on an appearance by the singer scheduled for this morning, CBS swooped in, booked him on the "Early Show" and then worked the story for every drop they could squeeze out of it.
And boy oh boy did Adam play along. It looks like all that theatre training is coming in handy after all.
After copping to the fact that he kept the racier bits in his number from ABC until show time, he proceeded to throw some of his fellow performers under the bus. Like a petulant 10-year-old, he pointed out that Lady Gaga smashed whiskey bottles and Eminem rapped about rape. But he saved his best whine for Janet Jackson.
“Janet Jackson, crotch grab,” he complained to CBS’ Harry Smith. “I haven’t heard one peep about that.”
The singer followed that mature line of argument with the mantra he’s been chanting since the moment he came off stage Sunday night, asserting “if it had been a female pop performer doing the moves that were on the stage I don’t think there would be nearly as much outrage.”
And then (*sigh*) he blamed the whole mess on homophobia. Again.
“I think it’s because I’m a gay male.”
Adam, I say this from the bottom of my heart because up until this week I really liked and respected you and I still want you to succeed: Grow up.
Had you walked on to the stage naked Sunday night and had actual sex with half a dozen people (men and women), I wouldn’t have been personally shocked or offended. As it was, I didn’t find your cartoon version of S&M sexy or provocative at all. In fact, it smacked of desperation, like you felt you had something to prove.
I will fight to the death for your right to live your life the way you choose, as well as your right to express yourself artistically (I’m a hardcore Liberal, just ask some of my critics). But some of the things you did during your performance simply weren’t a good fit for the time and place. Would you bring a cow to an opera? Of course not.
Now pay attention to this next point Adam, because you really need to understand it if you hope to be taken seriously as an artist or even thought of as an adult. The public’s expectation that you, or any other artist for that matter, would have sense enough to recognize when something is in poor taste or simply not appropriate is not in any way discrimination. (Whether or not it’s censorship is a whole other kettle of fish and an argument for another time.)
If you had simply thrown up your hands after the AMAs on Sunday night and admitted that you might have been trying too hard and didn’t give the best performance, the situation probably wouldn’t have blown up like this.
I’m pleased to say that I’m not the only gay person whose biggest problem with Lambert right now is the way he’s handled the situation. Jennifer Vanasco, editor in chief of 365gay.com, took to Huffington Post yesterday to pretty much rip the singer a new one.
Vanasco took Lambert to task for contradicting himself several times during his Out magazine interview, angrily criticized him for playing right into the hands of those who oppose equal rights for the LGBT community when he basically trotted every negative gay stereotype out onto the stage Sunday night, emphasized that as a public figure he’s a role model whether he likes it or not and – just like I’ve done previously – admonished him for diminishing the sacrifices of those who made it possible for him to do what he’s doing.
So Adam, for your own sake, please stop for a second, take a deep breath and really think about what happened Sunday and how you’ve been behaving since. Then put the episode behind you and get your ass out there and be the entertainer I and others believe you can be.
Read Jennifer Vanasco’s complete Huffington Post blog here.