Kicked off of ABC’s entire network for, uh, doing things pop stars do, Adam Lambert showed up this morning on CBS’s The Early Show. We’re expecting a ratings bonanza for Good Morning America‘s competitor, given all the snowballing controversy.
In a pre-screened mini Q&A session, not even the girl on the webcam was willing to prompt Lambert to reveal his thoughts. (We’re very busy people! So we’ve only seen parts of his appearance this morning. They didn’t talk about ABC, did they?) But the anchors did.
The bigger story, of course, is that despite welcoming Lambert on the network, CBS was just as scared of same-sex smooching during daytime. While discussing the AMA performance, they opted to blur out Lambert’s smooch, and leave uncensored a clip of Madonna and Britney kissing during the same segment. And CBS is standing by its double standard decision: “We gave this some real thought. The Madonna image is very familiar and has appeared countless times including many times on morning television. The Adam Lambert image is a subject of great current controversy, has not been nearly as widely disseminated, and for all we know, may still lead to legal consequences.”
Legal consequences? What a cop out. Simply because we’ve seen the Madonna and Britney kiss so often, now it’s okay to air? But because Lambert’s kiss is still new, it’s still controversial? The entire premise is ridiculous.
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
Us? We’re just pissed he missed out on hanging with all of GMA‘s ‘mos.
Michael vdB
Fans don’t care if he is gay or straight. They just care that he can sing and put on a show. Which should always be the case regardless of what you think of him.
Deb Draisin
NOBODY should care if he’s gay or straight, and what he did is no different than anything Madonna has ever done, and the press still worships the shit out of her. Plus, Adam is a better singer than she is. American society is heading back to the stone age with its thinking these days, thanks to the Religious Right having been granted unlimited power in the Senate. For Christ’s sakes, Palin’s supporters don’t even know what her platform is – people are sheep.
As far as I’m concerned, Lambert just upped the already considerable street cred I had granted him for being able to sing like Freddie by defying societal mores on national television. Everyone knows that these award shows are mostly bullshit anyway. They, just like our elections, are decided upon by panel rather than popular vote.
Joseph
Isn’t anybody even just a tad pissed that CBS censored Adam’s male-male kiss but then showed the Britney-Madonna kiss without censoring it? Adam was right, there IS a double standard.
Larry
Responding to the question on whether they talked about ABC. They did, I saw it this morning before I left the house. Unfortunately, I don’t have a video link but I am sure one will pop up somewhere on the web.
Swarm
sidebar: Please go rate on your itunes if you’re so inclined. It only takes a minute. There are two albums and one single.
4 -4.5 stars out of 5 ..being dragged down by 1 stars.
It doesn’t matter what you think about the songs, there’s hate speech and trolling in the comments on the 1 stars.
You don’t have to write a review, just log in and click the 5 stars. Adam fantards have to do this to counterbalance the trolls, we’re used to it.
Joseph
Better to contact CBS about the offensive hypocrisy of not showing a male-male kiss while showing a female-female kiss. 212-975-4321
Mike L.
Lol I noticed at the end of the second vid that older women were all trying to hug the boy, lol. That was just cute.
I got the CD yesterday and I’m loving it! I like cd’s where not ALL of the songs sound like a continuation of the rest, everyone is different.
Swarm
@Joseph absolutely but it only takes a second to click 5 stars j/s
the full high quality interview showed up, Queerty:
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=5772038n&tag=cbsnewsSectionContent.0
“it’s because I’m a gay male”
and faux follow up question
Dave
@Swarm
It’s interesting during that interview, when replaying the AMA clip they blurred out BOTH the simulated oral sex AND the gay kiss.
They try to say that it wasn’t the kiss everyone has a problem with, only the oral sex simulation. But really it was both.
Swarm
@Dave it’s funny the media doesn’t really seem to think through things.They’re used to sheep mentality I guess. I don’t know who blurred the kiss.I haven’t checked that out. I’m assuming CBS since the kiss has been running nonstop and even in slow motion hahaha.over on CNN.
CBS is being bombarded with tweets about that censorship this morning albeit thanking them for the show. And since they showed the Britney Madonna kiss and I noticed it was the big close up version.
Adam Official website crashed for 12 hours last night because they had 100,000 people trying to see the video.
Adam fans may seem over the top but it’s all good really. If he can keep his psyche straight he should be pretty significant imo. After all, the moms are raising sons and grandsons. And those women are ferociously overprotective. LOL As we’ve seen.
Go ADAM rock those >225,000 sales units this week!
Nonsense
Adam Official didn’t crash. The video was available on the home page the entire time. They shut it down due to the controversy and fighting in the forums.
Jon B
Queerty, you said you didn’t get a chance to watch the full thing, well The Early Show decided to censor Adam’s kiss at one point, during an in studio interview, but they left Madonna and Brit Brit’s kiss totally uncensored. It’s so ironic that they questioned whether a double standard exists. People should call or write letters about it. I did.
jason
Haven’t I told you that there’s a bisexual double standard in the American media? Girl-girl is OK, guy-guy isn’t. This is how the liberal media operates.
Qjersey
for all the “outrage” (fauxrage really) expressed by his “fans” about his AMA performance, there sure seemed to plenty of people there screaming and mooning over him.
Keith Kimmel
Step 1: Join this Facebook Group and Invite All Your Friends!
> http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=184007987035
You can copy and paste this entire post into an e-mail for your non-Facebook friends.
Step 2: Send ABC & Disney a Letter
When calling, ask for the contact named. You’ll get thier office, but thats where whining matters. Whining to a switchboard operator will accomplish nothing. However, annoying an executive’s adminstrative assistant will.
ABC, Inc.
Attn: Anne Sweeney, President Disney-ABC Television Group
77 W. 66th St.
New York, NY 10023
Phone: 212-456-7777
Fax: 212-456-1424
The Walt Disney Company
Robert Iger, President & CEO
500 S. Buena Vista St.
Burbank, CA 91521
Phone: 818-560-1000
Fax: 818-560-1930
Dear [ Name ],
As a regular viewer of [ABC STATION], I am outraged to hear that you have decided to ban Adam Lambert from your network after his performance on The American Music Awards, which you broadcast. I was even more shocked to learn that you decided to edit the west coast feed to hide various parts of Lambert’s performance. As you are undoubtedly aware, Brittany Spears has performed numerous publicity stunts similar to those recently performed by Lambert. Those stunts were well-received, joked about and enjoyed for the entertaining moments that they were.
By not banning Spears and banning Lambert, your network is clearly allowing a double standard which is homophobic in nature and this is unacceptable. I am offended that ABC chooses to discriminate against gay people in its programming choices. I do not support discrimination and therefore I can no longer in good conscience support your network.
Therefore, until you issue an apology and reverse this poorly conceived and hastily made decision, I will not be watching or supporting ABC or its affiliates in any way. I will also be sure to avoid a vacation to any Disney-owned resort or watching any movies made or released by Disney or its affiliated studios.
Sincerely Yours,
[ Name, Address, Phone, E-mail address ]
Step 3: Boycott ALL ABC-Owned TV Stations & Disney Stuff
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ABC_television_affiliates_(by_U.S._state)
If you MUST watch TV shows only avaliable on ABC, download them from a Torrent site. That way ABC gets NO money from it.
Avoid any trips to Disney resorts. Don’t buy, rent or watch movies made or released by Disney Studios. Cancel your subscription to the Disney Channel if you have it.
Nonsense
@14 QJersey, there were only a handful of fans herded into a small area to look like more.
Joseph
CBS issues a lame response to the controversy over censoring Adam’s male-male kiss while not censoring the Britney-Madonna kiss:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/showtracker/2009/11/cbs-responds-to-criticism-over-blurring-of-adam-lamberts-kiss-on-the-early-show.html
“We gave this some real thought. The Madonna image is very familiar and has appeared countless times, including many times on morning television. The Adam Lambert image is a subject of great current controversy, has not been nearly as widely disseminated and, for all we know, may still lead to legal consequences.”
It’s a lame and offensive response. Men have been kissing on network TV for over a decade now–erratically but increasingly. None of these kisses has resulted in legal consequences.
If I were in New York, I’d rally the gay community to show up in front of the Early Show windows and stage mass male-male kiss-ins until they admit they were wrong and apologise.
jason
Keith Kimmel,
A heartfelt thank you for taking the stand you’re taking.
I think we should organize a mass male-male kissathon in front of the Early Show. I know it sounds trivial but trivial sometimes gets results.
scott ny'er
so it was a double edged sword. He got picked up by CBS but then they censored the replay, eh? Well, at least he some more exposure.
Quake
I love how he stuck his ground, he’s not a babysitter whats the point of apologizing. This is the AMA’s, Gaga was in a nude body suit and you can see the outline of her vagina through that thin fabric. Janet Jackson crotch grabbing people, Eminem claiming to rape 17 victims. Pop music is not Kids Bob people.
How bout this, Why not tell your kids the fucking truth for once in a while. I mean, isn’t fucking how they got on this planet in the first place? We are all sexual beings get the fuck over it and move on.
Alexander
I was incredibly indifferent to Lambert before all of this. Suffice it to say his “Fuck you” stance on all of this is just great. He could have bent over during all of this or made sniveling apologies to whoever would listen. But he didn’t. Bravo, man. Oh, and your new video’s pretty damn sweet, too.
Jacqui Smith
It’s not “homogay”, it’s homoFAG dammit! Get it right! Homogay just sounds stupid.
Gary
You guys should be complaining to CBS and Good Morning America, like I did – us bitching to ourselves won’t help anything.
terrwill
GMA:
> Gay dude who performs and does nothing illegal: BAN him
> Chris Brown: Convicted felon, beater of females: BOOK him
he is scheduled for interview and perform next week…………….
romeo
@ Terrwill: good point.
Queerty is running too many Adam threads. Need to consolidate. It’s tearing me apart! LOL
Josh
If people want to support Adam– then buy his album. If you get it on Itunes you get two bonus tracks (Master Plan and Down the Rabbit Hole) and some behind the scenes footage.
observation
An interesting fallout is hetero women asserting this also portrays hetero male domination and power over women. In as much as the straight male point of view (and titillation) supercedes womens’.
Apparently plenty of women are turned on by the man on man as well as want to advance LGBT.
Perhaps sexuality’s not the most intellectual argument but Lambert’s subsequent interviews reveal a charming well spoken harmless kid. A solid juxtaposition of good v “evil” being a myth under this microscope.
Amazing to see that ferosh inner something show up so unexpectedly that night. A historical moment when I least expected it.
romeo
@Josh #27: I bought ten CD’s to gift for Xmas. I’ll probably buy the iTunes too for the bonus tracks.
Fran
Haha homogay. Looks like someone has been reading their christwire.org.
Deb Draisin
I wonder if Adam had been straight if this would be as big of a deal.