Adam Lambert's high evergy performance at the American Music Awards was bisexual, theatrical, edgy and outrageous and the song was amazing rock & roll. His dancers were tricked out in fantasy costumes with a fetish edge and Lambert interacted with both female and male dancers in a sexual way. He dragged a female dancer across the stage by her leg, pulled several male dancers crawling on the floor by a leash and appeared to grab the crotch of a girl dancer. But the acts that took the most fire were grinding a male dancer's face into his crotch and passionately kissing his androgenous looking male keyboardist. His performance was so outrageous that the director cut away twice live, and it was censored before the broadcast hit the West Coast.
Female stars have pulled similar stunts at award shows, but they were more famous and more of a known quantity: already known for their sexy videos and concerts. And the sexuality was girl-on-guy or girl- on-girl: not guy on guy. Which apparently both network execs, the general public and the FCC find more shocking. I personally loved his high energy and original performance and enjoyed being surprised--it's not easy to surprise an audience in this day and age or to be truly original. And the guy that Lambert kissed was so androgenous that I couldnt tell, even with many rewinds, if he had kissed a guy or a girl...but it was reported to be a guy the next day.
ABC then pulled all clips of the performance from YouTube and punished the openly gay star by cancelling his appearances on Good Morning America, Jimmy Kimmel and Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve (ironically hosted by American Idol's Ryan Seacrest.)
It's surprising that they didnt have the live awards show on eight second delay, as most networks had been doing with live shows ever since the Janet Jackson "wardrobe malfunction" where her breast and sunburt-shaped nipple piercing was accidentally exposed during the Superbowl half-time show. Even The View on ABC is on a several second delay, so they can bleep out any words the hosts utter that are deemed inappropriate, which happens on a regular basis...Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg being the most frequent repeat offenders.
It is Barbara Walters, creator of The View, who is bringing Lambert back to ABC tomorrow night on her 10 Most Fascinating People of 2009 special. They will discuss his infamous AMA performance and coming out as gay after Idol. (Walters will also interview Lady Gaga about her bisexuality.) He will be a guest on The View the following day (Thursday), performing a song. I think Barbara bonded with him during their 10 Most Fascinating interview and used her considerable pull to get him back on ABC and even perfoming. Although they were forced by ABC to pre-tape the show to make sure they could cut anything they didnt like or were afraid would result in FCC fines. His performance will likely be more sedate than at the music awards, as it was when Lambert performed on Letterman (CBS) and Ellen (NBC), minus the dancers, but not on any ABC show since the American Music Awards.
On Letterman and Ellen, Lambert performed a rock ballad: "What Do You Want From Me?" that still managed to be refreshingly edgy and rock & roll, though emotional, vulnerable and haunting...it gave me chills and I rewatched the Letterman performance six times. His performance on Letterman was especially brilliant and his voice and phrazing amazing...a perfect performance. I'm a rock & roll girl, so I appreciate his music much more than the other first or second-place idols.
On Ellen, Adam said the kissing and grinding were spontaneous and unplanned and that he just got carried away in the moment during his performance and had no intention to disrespect anyone but went "maybe a little too far." But on Barbara Walters' "Fascinating" interview, he defends his choices:
Barbara Walters: If you had to do that performance all over again, would you do it the same way?
Adam Lambert: Yeah, I would do it exactly the same way. I am who I am and I think that freedom of expression should be alive and well and unfortunately, it's not.
10 Most Fascinating People of 2009 airs Wednesday Dec 9 at 10pm Eastern on ABC
Adam Lambert's performance on The View is on ABC Thursday Dec 10 at 11 AM in New York. Check your local listings.
Comments
Hi. Liked your article. Yes WWFM is a great song and Adam is an exceptional singer. I just wanted to say that the interview with Barbara was the very next day after the AMA's and it was taped. He still has not been allowed to perform live on tv yet. But I think that will change in time. Meanwhile Adam fans continue to boycott ABC except for when Adam is on one of their shows.
Just viewed Adam's performance on Letterman and found it very very special. I was standing outside the theater listening at the street doors & Adam and the band sounded terrific but it was even more fabulous in the studio. Vocally Adam is back in tip top shape! Thanks to Dave and CBS for giving him this opportunity to prove how great he really is. This was a very special performance..thanks Adam!
well said, I will boycott ABC except for when Adam is on. Love u Adam!
Yep people are into OVER REACTION mode if they are afraid of something new and a little shocking. Article was good and actually decent writing as well. I respect Adam for having balls of steel and being so calm under fire. He has taken it for being to gay, not gay enough, too crude, indecent, not enough rock, too much attitude = Whtev... the man is truly Avant Garde!!
"female stars have pulled similar stunts at award shows, but they were more famous and more of a known quantity: already known for their sexy videos and concerts. and the sexuality was girl-on-guy or girl- on-girl: not guy on guy. which apparently both network execs, the general public and the FCC find more shocking."
that's got to be the biggest crock of bulls**t ever... as well as inaccurate. the fcc and the network had no reaction to his performance the day afterward other than to term reaction "mild" (i.e., 1500 complaints out of millions of viewers). things didn't change until the liberty police - those now law degreed minions of the moral minority - decided to use the performance as a catalyst to try to change existing standards to fit their agenda and filed a legal complaint filled with homophobic language deeming the performance as obscene.
wake up, people. fight against repressive censorship.
I think of ADAM as effortlessly revolutionizing the music industry and the cultural landscape by just being true to himself, simply being who he is. ADAM is an unstoppable phenomenon and through him A Change Is Gonna Come! I feel it. It's electrifying. I'm proud to be a fan. Love you, ADAM baby.
Got something to say?
Examiner.com is looking for writers, photographers, and videographers to join the fastest growing group of local insiders. If you are interested in growing your online rep apply to be an Examiner today!