TV Week Editor BRENT FURDYK blogs about what’s going on in the wide world of television.
Outrageous Rock Star Shocks Viewers — Some Things Never Change
By Brent Furdyk, Editor, TV Week | Nov 25, 2009
ABC has reportedly received more than 1,500 complaints from viewers who were sickened by the uber-gay stage antics of uber-gay Adam Lambert during the American Music Awards. To which I say, "Yawn."
So Lambert took to the stage at the AMAs and gyrated with both male and female dancers, had a male dancer perform simulated mock-fellatio on him, and then gave his male keyboard player a deep kiss. And outrage ensued.
Of course, if it had been Madonna flaunting the same stuff, we'd all be going, "Oh, that Madonna, there she goes again." But with Lambert - we're shocked!
How many years ago was it that Elvis Presley's gyrating hips were too controversial for "The Ed Sullivan Show?" David Bowie literally did the same shtick Lambert is recycling, but he did it 35 years ago. Once upon a time, Alice Cooper was shocking; now's he's just an old dude who plays a lot of golf. Even Marilyn Manson's son-of-Satan gimmick, which so outraged evangelicals a few years back, eventually wore itself out when we stopped being shocked by it and started expecting it. Madonna too, but at this point the only way Madonna could actually shock us would be by starring in a movie that didn't suck.
The point is, being "shocking" is good for business. Maybe it's just because I'm old enough to remember when rock and roll actually meant something, but rock and roll is supposed to shock, it's supposed to spit in the face of convention, it's supposed to incite the rebellious and piss off the establishment. Have we really become so ingrained with the white-bread American Idol-ization of music that nobody remembers this?
Anyhow, more power to him, I say. Lambert's already making the rounds to talk about this, which only feeds the controversy, which will only help his album sales. Rock on.
Comments
They say...
..."the only bad press is an obituary" (although that never hurt Michael Jackson's sales any!). Nobody's going to convince me that Flambert's shenanigans weren't thoroughly planned and rehearsed before they were executed. He knew damn well that there would be controversy. Now he's calling "discrimination" and "triple standard." Whatever. I call bulls#!t. Can anybody really say this performance was shocking for Adam? It really wasn't so much shocking as it was contrived and generally in poor taste. The day I'm actually shocked by Adam Lambert will be the day he SINGS a song instead of screeching it. Boring!
Evened the Playing Field
Women performers have been doing it for years...Madonna was NOT the beginning, nor was Marilyn Monroe...THINK people, sexuality and expressing it, does not belong to just the female sex!!!
Lambert is talented, obviously has a great publicist and manager. HE should be applauded. PULEEZ...a man kissing another man, is NOTHING to be outraged about...A MAN and a GOAT..yes! BE outraged, but this...it is publicity, it is free speech, it is what entertain those of us, with open minds and open doors and are not dictated by someone or something else. Free thought!!! Hmmm...Do those 1500 also still practice burning books...Girlz schools...White only signs on their doors!!! EVOLVE
There is definitely a double
There is definitely a double standard going on here, at least in the States anyway. I am so proud to live in Canada where our west feed was not blurred or altered in any way. However, I find it interesting that not one media report has mentioned that during the song prior to kissing the man (who I actually thought was a woman until the huge fuss was made!), when he is sitting on the chair with the woman dancing on the back behind him he reaches right up into her crotch! Not only was that not blurred out, but there has not been one peep about it in the media!
The coverage on The Early Show the next morning also used a double standard. What's the point of showing footage to illustrate a story when they blur out the main point of the story? And then they showed the unaltered footage of Madonna and Britney kissing at the VMAs, and defended such use by saying "the Madonna image is very familiar and has appeared countless times including many times on morning television." Excuse me, but claiming "familiarity" is a lame and specious argument, aside from the fact that familiarity does not equal approval. People will become familiar with something that they have seen countless times, but they will never get the chance to be familiar with something that is shielded from their view. It just serves to justify their own homophobia.
I seem to recall...
...that many people were outraged at the time of the Madonna/Britney kiss. Yeah, familiar now, but it was the talk of the town back then (which reminds me, how come nobody ever mentions Christina? Maybe because she has enough talent that the kiss becomes an afterthought?). Anyway, I think Lambert conveniently forgets that point. Personally, I never felt that their kiss itself was so outrageous, but I've always had to shake my head at the fact that both ladies managed to engineer their careers out of controversy (jmo, but I've never been a fan of either, and I'm certainly not a fan of Adam's). So to me, what's familiar is that the guy is doing the SAME thing and creating the SAME buzz. We're all talking about it, that's what matters in the industry these days. It's a sad world we live in when record sales (or downloads!) are no longer based on talent but how many hits on TMZ they can garner.
awful photo
when is the offensive photo of Adam Lambert going to stop popping up
whenever I go to this site? Time for a change!
Reply
Login here or register to post your comment now. Anonymous comments are welcome, but they must first go to an approval queue.
TVWeek Online reserves the right to discard or unpublish any comments deemed inappropriate or incongruent to our editorial policy. Accounts through which such comments are repeatedly posted may be suspended.