(NOT)SHOCKED: Barbara Walters Still Scared to Show Adam Lambert’s Gay Kiss
Aren’t we supposed to be celebrating a “partial victory” with Adam Lambert/ABC, according to GLAAD? After all, Jarrett Barrios, the head of the organization charging itself with policing the media, was just telling us yesterday that, despite Lambert getting nixed from Jimmy Kimmel and New Year’s Rockin’ Eve, getting the star on taped appearances on ABC’s The View today and Barbara Walters’ The 10 Most Fascinating People of 2009 last night made him “pleased with the partial victory.” Except during last night’s Walters special, Lambert’s same-sex kiss was talked about, but not shown.
Is GLAAD going to issue another press release “condemning” the network for its double standard? Thus far, we haven’t seen anything from the organization responding to ABC’s latest round of self-censorship. But it was only last night that the special aired, so give them a few days.
Meanwhile, The 10 Most Fascinating People of 2009 aired at 10pm — the hour the FCC stops caring about “risque” television. And yet it’s clear ABC has not reversed its policy on what it deems inappropriate television. Namely, gay kissing. (As TMZ notes, Walters’ special did include a shot of kissing — between heterosexual ex-partners Jon and Kate Gosselin.)
But hey, at least it’s giving Walters and The View gals something to talk about today. But not something to put on screen.
UPDATE: ABC responds to criticism. See their reaction here.
Queerty: I think you need a thread on Bill O’Reilly’s suggestion that Adam be sent to Iran ! We all know what happens to our guys there.
As for the Walters special, it was so-so, but a good thing that there was a lot of diverse performance video of Adam. Nice that she was reminding viewers what made Adam famous in the first place. But what was up with that fugly lighting? Also trying to figure out how Barbara is doing it with her face, Restylane or pre-stressed concrete? She looks good though.
She focused on sex with Adam Lambert and Lady Gaga. What about their art? I didn’t watch the other interviews, so I can only speculate if she asked Michelle Obama, Sarah Palin or Glenn Beck about their sex lives.
Seriously now, Chuck, do you WANT to know about Glenn Beck’s sex life? As for Scara, I always thought that “going rogue” stuff was about her sex life.
It’s always easy to go for the crotch when asking a question. She didn’t produce anything illuminating about Lambert or Gaga. I mean, Gaga’s bisexual so, “duh,” she’s had sex with women. I think we knew that. And, we knew that Adam is gay. She got them to say it on network tv. She exploited there sexuality for ratings. Lambert and Gaga treated the questions with grace, but I wonder how the others would have treated those sorts of questions. (Hey, Michelle, how do you and the President find time for nooky these days?) And, if I were interviewing Lady Gaga or Lambert, I’d ask them something different – like, how is it different waking up now – a year later and very famous – compared to a year ago? How is life stressful in a way that’s different than when you were unknown? Just two examples, and maybe not that great, but I’d ask questions that were different than what’s been asked.
Chuck, I hear you and totally agree, but we’re dealing with Barbara Walters here, an 80 year-old woman whose only purpose in life is being popular. She knows the questions to ask to titillate the folks in Kansas City. Hopefully his appearance on “The View” today will be more interesting. However, I don’t count on it. I think it likely will be make-up, hair, clothes, and more crotch questions. LOL
Barbara Walters prides herself on her sense of taste and
decorum…..and because she’s got a proven track record
of being tactfull and fair, she gets access to everyone.
Of course she didn’t show pictures of the kiss…
I didnt expect her to.
This whole topic is muck raking.
Much ado about nothing.
Why do they need to show it? Is that supposed to legitimize him or us? It’s been talked about at length and frankly would just be gratuitous. If you want to see 2 men kissing on ABC, turn on One Life to Live in the afternoon and watch Fish and Kyle. Queerty, stop being a shit stirrer.
DK is right: we should be celebrating the fact that ABC’s One Life to Live is not only showing two men kissing, but they were kissing in bed, about to make love. Heck, they even had their own love song written for them by ABC!
DK: “Queerty, stop being a shit stirrer.” HaHaHaHaHa
DK, what in the world did you think Queerty was?!
And BTW, being a shit stirrer is not a bad thing these days.
This does goes to show ABC’s hypocrisy. It exploits sex for its own financial benefit while treating it as something shameful. I can see it not showing the face in the crotch shot, but The Kiss? I bet Fox would at least show the kiss (and the crotch shot after a viewer warning) before saying how shocked they are (and then say their “culture warriors” would replay it all and talk about the shockers in an upcoming segment.)
#1 @Romeo Queerty: “I think you need a thread on Bill O’Reilly’s suggestion that Adam be sent to Iran ! We all know what happens to our guys there.”
Morning Romeo ~ That seems to be a still unconfirmed AO comment that was backpedaled to “Iraq” later on LOL. Nobody can find a clip, give a real quote or figure out what country. LOL
I actually saw that and can’t say if it was Iraq or Iran with clairity. The clip they showed was Adam walking the dancers on the dog leashes.
I remember that he and the two correspondent people he said it to gave me the impression that they meant because of his “rough for you” persona because they laughed like oh yeah! As in “that’ll show them” and it was apropos of an earlier political war type discussion.
I briefly thought “oh man we’re gonna hear more about this” but aside from thinking everyone needs to get OFF the AMA performance it didn’t appear to me to be for the “death sentence” but more a not fleshed out joke about well if the army can’t do anything maybe this guy can.
I tape OReilly and Olbermann daily but it’s only a two day save so I can’t re-watch. It’s hard enough to watch either one of them the first time LOL.
Stop being a shit stirrer?
This is shit and it needs to be stirred.
Didn’t know about “One Life to Live.” Is a kiss between two men ready for prime time on an ABC mass audience show? Sorry, but I don’t give ABC much credit for keeping it in a soap box. Soaps have always been a bit steamy. I used to watch them with my mother many years ago. They’d show stuff to housewives in the afternoon that they wouldn’t show in prime time.
Accidently watched The View this am after purposefully watching Barbara W last night. Completely unimpressed. The hypocrisy of ABC and Barbara is astounding. Her special was (to be nice)a lacking ball of fluff with pathetic questions. The View with Adam Lambert this morning was really irritating and Sheri Shepard is rapidly eclipsing that shrew Elizabeth as ignorantly outspoken in my book.
Adam should have asked Barbara about Roy Cohn.
Elizabeth surprised me in giving Adam an obvious show of support when she came over to him with Barbara after he finished his song. WWFM is not a favorite on the album, though. Wish he’d move on and promote some of the others.
Roy Cohn? Wasn’t he that fugly closet case right-winger that was in to S&M back in the McCarthy era? Eeeeeeew.
No. 6 · Austin
Barbara Walters prides herself on her sense of taste and
decorum…..and because she’s got a proven track record
of being tactfull and fair, she gets access to everyone.
Of course she didn’t show pictures of the kiss…
I didnt expect her to.
This whole topic is muck raking.
Much ado about nothing.
______________________
The issue was that she has shown unblurred images of the Madonna/Britaney kiss but blurred the image of Adam’s.
However, she did mention the hypocrisy of showing one and blurring the other in the show today. I thought the show today was generally supportive so I had no problem with it. Adam didn’t have to backtrack on anything for them, which I was afraid of. And, it allowed Adam to be the regular guy, gay guy, that he is.
Glad to see he’s taking off the weight. He looks just about right to promote the glamor image that works for him. He could be on the cover of Vogue Homme now, but is it still being published? LOL
I hate hypocrisy! Would Barbara Walters have shown a girl on girl kiss? I have no problem with the kiss, but the simulated sex was inappropiate whether gay or straight.
To #13 Geoff M: I have long said I would have dinner with Elizabeth over Sherri any time. At least Elizabeth has a brain, whether I agree with her or not. Sherri, on the other hand, believes the Noah’s Ark story ACTUALLY HAPPENED! WTF!
Of course, they show straight kisses all the time, so there certainly is hypocrisy no matter what.
Barbara Walters is a stupid idiot. She does not deserve one ounce of respect from the gay community.
Buzz off, Barbara.
@ #13 Chuck Jones
Brothers & Sisters is on ABC Prime Time and shows kissing between 2 married gay men in every episode. They’ve even discussed having a 3 way with another gay male character.
BradSA,
Note how The View came up with excuses to show female-female kissing but not male-male kissing.
They’re hypocrites, and so is the disgraced Barbara Walters.
There was a gay kiss on the last episode of Medium.
ADAM LAMBERT CAN HIT SOME NOTES LIKE NOBODYS BUSINESS,LOVE HIM
So, is Barbara Walters a hate-filled homophobic bigot now because she didn’t show Lambert’s gay kiss? You people need to get a life, seriously.
Barbara Walters and The View have double standards, of that there can be no doubt. Regardless of her attitude to gay rights, there’s no doubt she treats male homosexuality far more harshly than female homosexuality.
One Life To Live? Soaps are all washed up. Either this or NBC’s Days of Our Lives is probably going to be the next soap gone (CBS’s As The World Turns was just given the old heave-ho effective next September), and the description I read of the gay jilted-at-the-altar story made it sound as dumb as dirt.
Brothers and Sisters, aka “Sally Field Comes Crawling Back To Television”? The fact that the gay couple discussed a three-way has made me even less interested in watching that. More homophobic stereotyping.
Does anyone care about Baba Wawa anymore? She last menstruated when Gerald Ford was President, and the only reason to watch 20/20 (they needed a name she could pronounce correctly) was John Stossel, who left for Fox Business Channel. She’s one of those television institutions who’s only still around because no one has the heart to firing her, it would be like firing your slightly demented Grandma even though she screws up.
Barbara Walters actually said that she didn’t agree with ABC censoring Adam. However, she doesn’t control all that ABC does… or demands be done… even with her show.
Start a thread for this greatness, Queerty!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlhlgJ1pQxo
Actually, Bianca, Adam’s voice is so magnificent, I wish that he would resist the urge toward the sometimes unnecessary flourishes. Sometimes music, like fashion, has a line. But I’m a purist about SSB.
Anyway, it’s a lousy song. “America the Beautiful” should be our national anthem.
“Amber waves of grain” and “from sea to shining sea” rather than “bombs bursting in air.” And let’s face it, that “land of the free” is debatable.
Hi, Romeo, whatcha eating? Long time, no see. I’ve been away, bashing the straight haters who’re messing with Adam.
I agree, America the Beautiful is much better. I don’t know why it isn’t the national anthem. Star Spangled Banner only appeals to self-important men’s egos.
I also agree that Bill “O-he-thinks-hes-so-high-and-righty” was wayyyyyy out of line with his statement and should immediately be taken off the air and proscecuted for hate-speech as per the new hate crimes bill.
Gay, gay and more gay, STOP!!!
Can anyone give me a link to what Bill O’Reilly actually said? I searched and all I found is someone saying “I heard he said . . . “
Smart Kat, no one has actually been able to figure it out yet. It might have really been shitty, or maybe not. But being as it’s O’Reilly, I say guilty until proven innocent. LOL
If O’Reilly was just accused of saying something simply homophobic, I would agree. But the unsubstanciated insinuation is that he said something that boiled down to wanting Lambert dead. I will not assume O’Reilly is guilty of that until I see something to substanciate it.
Maybe he was saying something that boiled down to “If you think we don’t treat gays fairly here, go see what Iran is like.”
Or something taken completely out of context.
@Smart Kat:
Most likely. Anything to do with a hot topic like this gets skewed like a large-scale game of “telephone”. XD
Barbara Walters is worse than Bill O’Reilly. Yet GLAAD criticizes only O’Reilly and not Walters.