Adam Lambert: American Idol?

Media Meditation Number 5

Adam Lambert. American Idol finalist. American Music Awards 2009 performer.

Incendiary for social change?

He thinks so.

ABC's Good Morning America thinks otherwise.

Lambert's performance on the American Music Awards on Sunday night was no doubt entertaining. During the choreographed final performance of Lambert's song "For Your Entertainment", a dancer in Lamberts crew shoved their head into Lambert's crotch, simulating oral sex. Later on in the performance, Labmert kissed another (male) member of the performance group. In the age the technological shift, the video of Lambert's performance has been played thousands of times since the awards show.

Unexpected? No. The dancer "...putting her face to Lambert's crotch was included in a rehearsal, according to an Associated Press reporter who attended the rehearsal," (the male on male kiss was a surprise). Sex sells, and millions of advertisements use flagrant sexuality to market people, products, and events every day.

Shocking? Not really. Flashback to the 2003 MTV

movies awards where Madonna kissed not only Brittany Spears, but also Christina Aguliera, in a performance of Madonna's "Like a Virgin."

So what was the big deal for ABC, who cancelled on Lambert when he was scheduled to preform on Good Morning America Wednesday morning? ABC said "we were concerned about airing a similar concert so early in the morning." Which, in my opinion in a big cop-out to avoid sparking a dialogue about homosexuality in Disney's (owner of ABC) media repertoire. They were clearly just trying to divert attention from the fact that it was the homosexual element of Lambert's performance that bothered them. "ABC News representatives spoke to members of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Discrimination about the decision to cancel Lambert and assured the group that Lambert's sexual orientation had nothing to do with it, said Richard Ferraro, a GLAAD spokesman. Ferraro said GLAAD was also told that ABC's "Good Morning America" will work with Lambert and other gay and lesbian performers in the future." Why would ABC feel the need to speak to GLADD, if his sexual orientation had nothing to do with the cancellation? I think ABC is pulling the "sexual orientation" card.

The footage of the AMA's was edited for it's West Coast broadcast, cutting the (rehearsed) part of the dance when oral sex is alluded to.

Hello, that's called censorship ABC!

Adam had some words of wisdom to impart on the less than pleased viewers (ABC received 1500 negative responses to the performance).

"There's a big double standard, female pop artists have been doing things provocative like that for years, and the fact that I'm a male, and I'll be edited and discriminated against could be a problem. People are scared and it's really sad, I just wish people could open their minds up and enjoy things, it's all for a laugh, it's really not that big of a deal."

And what a double standard it is. For years, women in the entertainment industry have been using overtly sexual dance moves, clothing styles, lyrics and other things to gain popularity.

For example; Miley Cryus. At the Teen choice awards, --TEEN meaning 13-19--Disney endorsed actress/singer Miley Cyrus preformed her new single, "Party In The USA" punctuated with some not-your-grandmothers-dance-moves. The 17 year old, who is the main character on the hit Disney television show "Hannah Montana," walked on stage in booty shorts and cowboy boots, and then continued to preform sexual dance moves, culminating with a stroll across stage hugging a stripper poll. Talk about inappropriate for children... Miley's performance was at a kid orientated awards show, and her main audience are "tweens," humans that are in between children and teenagers. Where's the outrage about this? How come Miley isn't being rejected from shows and pulled from her Disney prime-time spot?

Lambert's performance was the closing of the AMA's, meaning it wasn't aired until around 11 p.m., far past what is considered prime time. The majority of the complaints I read were citing that children were viewing the awards show as the reason for viewers disgust with the performance. What were your children doing up at 11 pm? Are children really going to change what they consider as right and wrong after watching one awards show performance? "Since rock and roll's inception, one of the uphill battles it faced was the perception that it was a cause of juvenile delinquency" (87). There has always been a stigma that rock and roll will corrupt children, but it this really true, or just an opportunity for parents to blame their shortcomings on the media? This is also a case of individual meaning. Some people may look at the Lambert performance as a blatant sexual exploitation with no agenda other than shock value. Others may see it as an attempt to bring to light the difference between men and women performers and what's accepted by one and not the other.

And, if there had been children watching the rest of the awards show, they were already exposed to the sexual gratuity Janet Jackson brought to the stage, when she grabbed the crotch of a dancer in her "choreography." Or how about Lady Gaga, whose dance moves may not have been out there, but if I am not mistaken, was wearing a flesh colored body suit, as were the rest of her dancers, to simulate being nude? Or Eminem, who "boasted of 17 rapes," in his live performance.

Or what about Brittany Spear's music video from the single "If You Seek Amy"? When the lyrics are sang they sound like "f-u-c-k me." The opening scene of the video is a group of people who are half clothed and have obviously just participated in an orgy, with both male and female members. The song itself, if you look at the actual written words, not the subliminal sexual message, is about a homosexual encounter between Brittany and Amy. This video didn't get banned or censored, even though there are both homosexual references (albeit female, which in the male dominated media world is considered "sexy"), and raunchy dance moves and lyrics.

So what is really the issue here? Is it the blatant sexuality? Is it blatant sexuality coming from a man? Or is it blatant sexuality coming from a gay man?

One commenter on Gawker hit the nail on the head, "He's right. Total double standard. I covered my kids' eyes during his antics, but I distinctly remember the 1980 AMAs when my father yelled, "Get in here, boy! Lionel Richie's face-fucking Donna Summers!"