Adam Lambert`s Ama Performance – Just Entertainment or Inappropriate?

Yes, one thing is for sure – Adam Lambert definitely knows how to create buzz. 28 year – old American Idol runner-up certainly isn’t your average Idol contestant. You cannot possibly expect him to sing songs about magic rainbows and sunshine and everything nice. He is out to push the boundaries of America’s tolerance. And suddenly the public is outraged.

Girls kissing girls, dance moves simulating sex, lyrics that have to be censored to such a degree that every other word is a “beep” – this we can handle. And yet when Adam comes to the stage and kisses a male keyboard player, people are in full hate mode, claiming that a performer like this should never be allowed on stage. There were over 1500 complaints to ABC because of his performance (which is only moderate response, according to ABC). In case you live under a rock and haven’t seen the infamous kiss yet, here is the whole performance.

Never mind that he actually presented his new single (who cares about music in music industry anyway?). Yes, the sound was downright horrible and if people would have the right to criticize Adam for anything it would be for how he sounded (although it was not really his fault, because there were some technical difficulties). He commented on that as a response to Perez Hilton: “Thank you for the support. It WAS a bit pitchy. Don’t know what was going on with the sound. Same thing always went down on ‘Idol.’ ” But all people are talking about is the end of his performance.

First there are those who complain that their kids watched it. According to Timothy Winters, president of the Parents Television Council: “They’re outraged. They just can’t believe the nature of the content, the explicit nature, and how much graphic content there was. These programs are wholly unsuitable for children now and it’s pathetic, given the amount of economic support that children and teenagers bring to the industry today.” Come on, if you think this is the worst your kids have seen if you let them watch TV at 11 p.m., then you are seriously deluded.

Then there are some who are just outraged with the whole performance, because he had some guys on the leash, thrust his head into the crotch of a male dancer simulating oral sex and dragged a female dancer around the stage holding her ankles. AND he kissed a guy. But now, cancel that last part and you will get just an average pop performance of today. Even the kissing between same sex performers has already been done (hallo, Britney and Madonna, anyone?).

I don’t agree with this nor do I think that entertainment must necessarily have that sex element, although it is apparent that in order to succeed one cannot just stand on the stage and sing, but to single out Adam as the only one who did anything inappropriate and outrageous is just ridiculous. I am pretty sure if he kissed a woman we wouldn’t be having this debate.

So that makes me think this has more to do with the intolerance of gays than anything else. As Adam told Rolling Stone: “It’s a shame because I think that there’s a double standard going on in the entertainment community right now. Female performers have been doing this for years — pushing the envelope about sexuality — and the minute a man does it, everybody freaks out. It’s time to take risks, be a little more brave, time to open people’s eyes and if it offends them, then maybe I’m not for them.”

But in the end this whole thing (which was “coincidentally” just before the release of his debut album For Your Entertainment) did exactly what it was meant to – to make people talk about Adam Lambert. And consequently buy more albums. Did it work? Well, I’d say that much publicity never hurt any singer. However, the whole buzz created by this performance will soon be over and since the album was released only yesterday, people will hopefully finally judge his music. Not this one performance. As the lyrics of his single “For Your Entertainment” state: “Can you handle what I’m ’bout to do?” Obviously not.