A Homophobic Media? Adam Lambert experiments at the AMA November 27, 2009

Posted by admin in entertainment Tags: ABC

In front of 14 million people during his performance for the American Music Awards, former American Idol star Adam Lambert kissed a fellow performer and shoved his crotch into the face of another. Lambert was immediately criticized, and ABC canceled his next-day performance on Good Morning America. Lambert complained about the reaction and stated:

“If it had been a female pop performer doing the moves that were on the stage, I don’t think there’d be nearly as much of an outrage at all. I think it’s because I’m a gay male.”

Lambert’s incident became slightly more controversial after he appeared on CBS’s The Early Show a few days later, and the program showed an unedited video of Madonna and Britney Spears kissing during the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards, but edited the clip from the American Music Awards performance.

At the very least, Lambert’s performance was controversial because it violated community standards of obscenity. Was the general reaction to his conduct homophobic, though? Such a question was recently asked by Joy Behar during a recent segment of her television talk show:

Discussion Questions:

1. Was Lambert right that there is a double standard in the entertainment industry in regards to sexual behavior?

2. Was ABC’s reaction to Lambert, and perhaps much of the public’s reaction, homophobic?

3. More than anything, Lambert’s performance speaks to the controversial nature of standards of obscenity. How does one judge what is too obscene to be shown on television? What are the consequences of these judgments?