If anything, the outcry over the controversial American Music Awards performance by gay singer Adam Lambert proves that gay performers are held to a far different standard than heterosexual performers. For years, performers like Michael Jackson, Madonna or Britney Spears have been performing shows with highly sexualized content such as crotch grabbing or suggestive sexual movements. But when an openly gay performer Adam Lambert did the same thing at the American Music Awards, then the public outcry began. Further, it has been social conservative organizations such as the Parent's Television Council which have pressed members to file FCC complaints.
This is part of the problem. Entertainers in the United States are supposed to create entertainment, yet are tightly constrained by a complex web of censorship legislation that social conservative complainer's can use to mow down freedom of expression by using government as a tool to impose huge and excessive fines, or in some cases imprisonment. Couple this with the anti-gay rights focus of many right wing social conservative organizations. All of this sets up a climate of hostility where a gay performer such as Adam Lambert will be judged by a far different standard than a heterosexual performer like a Madonna or a Britney Spears. Probably the gay kiss of a band mate might have been the straw that broke the camel's back for many social conservatives.
Compared to outlandish performers such as Lady Gaga, Adam Lambert's American Music Awards performance wasn't all that much different. But in the current repressed social climate in the U.S. where gay rights are far less socially acceptable than in Europe, gay musicians are only likely to be judged by a different standard here.
As part of the backlash to Adam Lambert's AMA performance, GOOD MORNING AMERICA quickly bent to public pressure and canceled a scheduled appearance of Lambert as a result. No one can accuse GMA of having balls. Maybe they should grow a good set and not so easily wilt to public pressure. There is no guarantee that Lambert would be raunchy. This is simply a blanket ban on an entertainer. It's like a modern-day Joe McCarthy type blacklisting. Will popular TV shows begin to blacklist gay entertainers out of fear?
It might take a few days for the dust to clear. However, the fallout over the Adam Lambert performance might mean a more tight and repressive social environment for performers to operate in with less freedom of expression in at least the short-run. But for now, the gay kiss by performer Adam Lambert is like the gay kiss heard around the world, or at least in the more socially conservative United States.
If anything, Adam Lambert's only crime was being openly gay.
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Comments (12)
The so called "Parents Tele... (Below threshold)1. Posted by libhomo | November 25, 2009 7:28 AM | Score: -3 (5 votes cast)
The so called "Parents Television Council" is a militant, anti American, fundamentalist hate group that hates American freedoms as much as Al Qaeda. Shame on ABC/Disney for doing this kind of unpatriotic pandering.
1. Posted by libhomo | November 25, 2009 7:28 AM |
Score: -3 (5 votes cast)
Posted on November 25, 2009 07:28
2. Posted by JLawson | November 25, 2009 8:33 AM | Score: 6 (6 votes cast)
Maybe it's time to start discarding the over-the-top entertainment styles, and start looking at the actual talent involved. You layer on too much 'flash', and the ability of the artist is lost. Madonna's great at dance moves - yay for her, but the emphasis is on her calesthenics any more, not her singing or songwriting abilities.
We have mediocre talent who glam up well, and we're treated to every detail of their lives like it actually matters what direction their plumbing points or their political leanings topple. How about making what's important whether they can sing without a half-dozen backup singers and three sound men, or write songs that are actually listenable?
Hell, look at Susan Boyle - hell of a set of pipes in a dowdy package, that wouldn't even have gotten a second look if some bozo producer didn't decide to put her on as comedy relief.
I don't give a damn about 'social repression' - how about dumping the pretty PC crap and bringing back people who can SING?
2. Posted by JLawson | November 25, 2009 8:33 AM |
Score: 6 (6 votes cast)
Posted on November 25, 2009 08:33
3. Posted by Rodney | November 25, 2009 11:40 AM | Score: 5 (5 votes cast)
You have it wrong again. The social conservatives have been speaking out for years against the over sexualization of everything. It would be the hypocritical Mainstream Media that has the problem because he is gay that they don't put him on.
3. Posted by Rodney | November 25, 2009 11:40 AM |
Score: 5 (5 votes cast)
Posted on November 25, 2009 11:40
4. Posted by Clancy | November 25, 2009 1:09 PM | Score: 3 (3 votes cast)
The music 'industry' ceased to be about music & talent 20+ years ago. It started over 50 years ago (Monkey's for sure, some could argue Elvis).
Prior to 'the kiss', I had no idea who Adam Lambert was (chances of me watching an award show are extremely negative). Still haven't heard his 'music' and probably don't want too.
4. Posted by Clancy | November 25, 2009 1:09 PM |
Score: 3 (3 votes cast)
Posted on November 25, 2009 13:09
5. Posted by Rich Fader | November 25, 2009 2:35 PM | Score: 2 (2 votes cast)
Yes, there is a double standard. There are a lot more people who want to see girls kissing each other than want to see guys kissing each other.
5. Posted by Rich Fader | November 25, 2009 2:35 PM |
Score: 2 (2 votes cast)
Posted on November 25, 2009 14:35
6. Posted by Marc | November 25, 2009 3:05 PM | Score: 1 (3 votes cast)
hooson "Gay Performers Like Adam Lambert Held To A Different Standard"
Really?
Then how do you explain the long and continued success of gay entertainers like these.
Elton John, musician
George Michael, musician
k.d. Lang, musician
Melissa Etheridge, musician
Boy George, musician (Culture Club)
Liberace, pianist/entertainer
Johnny Mathis, musician
Iggy Pop, musician
Janis Ian, musician
Michael Stipe, (lead singer of R.E.M.)
Joan Baez, musician
Cole Porter, song writer
Pete Townsend, musician (The Who)
Jimmy Somerville, musician (Bronski Beat)
Paul Rutherford, singer (Frankie goes to Hollywood)Holly Johnson, lead singer (Frankie goes to Hollywood)
Emily Sailers, musician (Indigo Girls)
Amy Ray, musician (Indigo Girls)
Peter Tchaikovsky, composer
Josephine Baker, singer
Andy Bell, musician
Benjamin Britten, composer
Bessie Smith, singer
Patty Schemel, drummer (Hole)
Dave Navaro, musician (Red Hot Chilli Peppers)
6. Posted by Marc | November 25, 2009 3:05 PM |
Score: 1 (3 votes cast)
Posted on November 25, 2009 15:05
7. Posted by Bob | November 25, 2009 4:29 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Sounds like the author is gay too.
7. Posted by Bob | November 25, 2009 4:29 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on November 25, 2009 16:29
8. Posted by madalyn | November 26, 2009 7:57 PM | Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
You missed out. It was not the kiss that got him uninvited to GMA. It was the crotch filth that did it. Don't go crying about how the gays are being bashed. Adam was tastless with his routine and I'm glad GMA said NO to him. He needs to clean up his act. I was astonished by what he did.
Madalyn
8. Posted by madalyn | November 26, 2009 7:57 PM |
Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Posted on November 26, 2009 19:57
9. Posted by G. | November 28, 2009 9:32 AM | Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
That picture is So nasteee!
9. Posted by G. | November 28, 2009 9:32 AM |
Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Posted on November 28, 2009 09:32
10. Posted by Timmer | November 29, 2009 11:41 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
I'm with Rich (#5). Girls kissing are more aesthetically pleasing than boys kissing. YMMV
And the thing is, Lambert's got talent. He didn't need to go over the top. He could have done "Mad World" the way he did on American Idol and brought the house down and people who didn't see Idol last season would have been talking about it like it was new, while all the Idol fans could go, "See, I told ya."
10. Posted by Timmer | November 29, 2009 11:41 AM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on November 29, 2009 11:41
11. Posted by JLawson | November 30, 2009 6:41 AM | Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
I'm with Timmer - show me the TALENT. I don't CARE which direction your plumbing points, and don't get the idea that somehow it's vitally necessary to parade it in front of a live audience in an "In your face" (so to speak) manner.
11. Posted by JLawson | November 30, 2009 6:41 AM |
Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Posted on November 30, 2009 06:41
12. Posted by ed davis | November 30, 2009 9:22 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Hi Paul.
"did the same thing"? What exactly is simulating m/m fellatio on an awards show (whose target audience included 12 year old kids) the "same thing" as?
Are you trying to say that Maplethorpe's artwork falls under some socially repressed category in the liberal litany of American atrocities against world progress because it isn't a well known school house rock video?
Fortunately, this is still a capitalist economy. If you think the mob rules is an underlying theme of the US Constitution (which it is not), how can you not understand that the mob of money rules everything (which includes "entertainment") people offer up for sale? Now THAT is a double standard.
You are stumping for freedom of speech/expression while stumping against it. In a capitalist economy, dollars are kind of like votes. Plenty of people doing the "same thing" as Elton John in the privacy of their own homes have done very well, I'd say. For today, it is when people like Adam Lambert try to shove it down our throats that they lose votes/dollars. Look at Janet Jackson's marketing failure and subsequent lack of popularity and earnings. Double standard? Not in these cases. And tough shit to both of them.
12. Posted by ed davis | November 30, 2009 9:22 AM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on November 30, 2009 09:22