Adam Lambert Loses, Homophobia Wins

The best singer didn't win a freaking singing contest.

When Kris Allen defeated Adam Lambert as the Season 8 "American Idol," it was, as predicted, a seismic upset. The Chicago Sun-Times said, "David slayed Goliath." Endless bloggers posted reactions like "The biggest robbery since Bush stole the election" and "The end of American Idol's last hope at relevance."

Everyone, from the judges to Google to Yahoo to the Vegas odds makers, predicted a Lambert victory. They were right, and everyone knows it. In the end homophobia won, and everyone knows it.

Yes, homophobia is alive and well, which is why Lambert lost the ultimate title. Go ahead -- give me another reason. Yes, Lambert is over the top and screams a lot and is campier than Liberace at Radio City. Sure, Kris Allen is a cutie, and has pleasant enough vocals, and he's nice. But a better singer, or performer, than Lambert? Please.

By anyone's estimation, Lambert was the best vocalist of the entire Idol season and one of the best, if not the best, in the history of the program. He towered over every contestant, exposing them as the amateurs they are. Every Lambert performance was an event. If this competition were only about singing, he crushed everyone else the second he walked onstage.

Kris Allen is a very affable and attractive young man. He is a decent vocalist with a very limited range and marginal talents. He should have made it to 3rd place at best. Time will tell if he reaches the level of John Mayer or Jack Johnson.

The final round, if vocals were the actual standard, should have been Lambert and Allison Iraheta, the precocious 17 year old with the whisky crusted Janis Joplin voice. But vocals, as evidenced by this and other Idol seasons, are not the final standard. In the end, a 'likeability' factor intrudes, turning 'Idol' into the Miss America Pageant or, more realistically, the high school Homecoming coronation.

Melinda Doolittle lost to Jordin Sparks. Chris Daughtry lost to Taylor Hicks. Jennifer Hudson lost to ... anyone. It's a real shame that Idol is decided by the public and not just music professionals, because let's face it, the voting public is not that bright. The public voted George W. Bush twice as president. The public thinks Halliburton is Liz Taylor and Richard Burton's daughter. The public votes on who they want to 'hang out' with.

In that event, Allen won by a landslide. Lambert hangs out with kinky L.A. theatre folk who dress wierd, stay out all night, and possibly do drugs and get into compromising positions. Allen hangs out at a local Arkansas bar, has a beer or two, strums a song, and then goes home to wedded Christian bliss. (Of course, I'd rather hang with Lambert's crowd. How much fun do you think they are? Are you kidding?)

If the contestants had zero backstory, Lambert would have decimated the competition. Instead, Allen's Christianity, church roots and corn-fed wife were exploited, as were Lambert's musical theatre roots (i.e. his 'theatre fag' history). He didn't say a word about his sexuality, but didn't need to. For that we had the Internet, zapping anyone's private photo library to the world, so photos of Lambert swapping saliva with a guy went viral, as well as a lot of his very strange yet riveting LA cabaret performances, turning off the homophobic majority.

Yes, a majority of the country is homophobic. If it weren't, gays would have had their rights back in the 90s when the Europeans got them. We wouldn't have a majority of states with a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. We wouldn't be fighting for even rudimentary domestic partnership laws in some cities and states. We wouldn't have anti-gay imbeciles like Maggie Gallagher, Peter LaBarbera, Matt Barber or the "God Hates Fags" morons getting publicity. Yep, if American weren't homophobic, Lambert would be waving to the crowds from a convertible.

Bill O'Reilly, a homophobe who knows what plays to his old white guy audience, did at least two features on Lambert's sexuality, creating an issue where none needed exist. He first brought up the Internet photos of Lambert kissing a guy and asked if this would be a "problem" for America, an America who might not have even thought about it until O'Reilly brought it up. And right before the Idol finale he brought on Newsweek's Ramin Setoodeh, author of an article about the "Christian vote" going to Allen, again planting a seed in a public who might not previously have thought of it. O'Reilly is a skilled propagandist, warning us against the evils of the secular world before they even entered our minds. And Steoodeh wrote, post 'Idol," about reasons why Lambert may have lost, neglecting to mention how he himself may have contributed.

I'm sorry a simple musical theatre actor from California and a simple guitar strummer from Arkansas have to bear this cultural burden, but there it is. Despite Allen's pleading that "It's about music, it's not about religion and all that kind of stuff," it is indeed about religion and all that kind of stuff. Danny Gokey's pastor Twittered, "We need a believer to represent." Even Rev. Ted Haggard, the most frightened homosexual in America, Twittered that he wanted Allen to win. A Lambert win would have scared the bejeezus out of him.

Conservatives are all still stinging from their defeat at the polls in November. They wanted something to take home. They couldn't possibly let a guy who wears eyeliner and nail polish win, no matter how astoundingly talented he is.

It is to Lambert's credit and astounding talent that he got this far, and the media sensation he has created ensures him a very exciting post-Idol career. He's a phenomenon who has earned every bit of ink he has created. He made 'Idol" relevant again. His outrageous performances woke up a sleeping audience.

And he made, without really trying, a great leap for gays in America. The American public learned his sexuality early on and still voted for him into the finals, even if they were too scared to give him the ultimate prize. But they obviously had their limits. Perhaps if he hadn't sung his finale "Mad World" performance in that 'Basketball Diaries' cloak, which made us fear he was a misunderstood youth about to pull out a semiautomatic and open fire on the tweens in the mosh pit, he would have won.

Even Kris Allen, at the end, said, "Adam deserves this. I'm sorry." It's Allen who will have to endure the publicity of how it really should have been Lambert up there. He's a nice guy and doesn't deserve it. He should enjoy his victory. But he was competing against Goliath, and these things happen. David himself would have had to deal with the fallout.

Comments

[abmabardy]

After making this post at AI, my profile was suspended and the post was deleted.
The post was made originally at a Clay Aiken site by someone who was given this information by a student at KA's school in AR.

38 million votes came from Arkansas. ONE state cast 38% of the total votes. Hmmm. Here's how it happened...

Hundreds of pre-paid AT&T cell phones were given out by organized KA supporters with West Coast area codes to vote long after the lines were closed in their time zone. They were able to text hundreds of times faster than it takes to dial in. It's actually possible to text vote approximately 40 times within one minute using a new smart phones, 2,400 per hour. Multiply that by the extra 2 hours for the west coast phones and you get 14,000 votes possible by one individual. Once the voting officially ended in Arkansas, the phones with the west coast area codes were used for the remaining 2 hours.

I have a AT&T land line and I was able to vote for Adam only about 25 times within 4 hours because of constant busy signals. Meanwhile someone in Arkansas had voted over 500 times that amount using power texting. You only need about 1,500 people to accomplish the amount of power text votes Kris received. If you remove the organizers from the equation, the number becomes the more realistic 60% - 40% margin that was originally predicted in Adam's favor.

[PaxMundis]

SOme proof would be nice.

[rayale]

I had a strange let down feeling watching the sections shot in San Diego çelebrating' Adam. They did not show a huge crush of adoring fans of all ages as those for the other candidates throughout the competition. Shots of the crowd showed ;little children. A shot of his high school showed gaping emptiness with a stand full of people far in the distance. Was there some media manipulation going on?

[grdavis1019]

The show is a joke. Shut it down. Adam was clearly the better singer. Once again, Fox had to turn a singing contest into a political battle. I'd bet any money they fixed the results too.

[PaxMundis]

Good God, people...

This isn't a political event. The fac that you can vote more than once ought to clue you in about that... Spare me the conspiracy theories.

[Jim David - Huffpost Blogger]

PLEASE - BEFORE ANYONE ELSE POSTS A NASTY COMMENT ABOUT THIS PIECE, PLEASE, PLEASE READ MY 2ND PIECE HERE - PLEASE!:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jim-david/adam-lambert-and-homophob_b_206600.html

[Isla Sands]

The unending commentary on Idol's latest stars, Kris Allen and Adam Lambert, clearly shows the polarizing effect Lambert has had on the American public. The music industry itself, however, is unaffected; it sells the music that people want to hear - whatever the genre. This is all that matters, and all that will matter as far as the careers of Allen and Lambert are concerned. It is of interest, however, just how greatly the Lambert persona has impacted upon people from all walks of life. I don't think any other Idol contestant has sparked such controversy. It certainly does set the young Lambert apart. His detractors, and there are many, may insist that he has no talent, or has a talent more suited to Broadway than pop/rock, yet many more attest otherwise, including those of the music industry whose opinion carries some - career supporting - weight. At the end of the day, theirs is the opinion that will count. So settle all you disgruntled petals. As Paul Simon once said, :Every generation throws its heros up the pop charts". The youth of today will make their call on Allen and Lambert and the music industry will endorse and capitalize on that call. Music is the name of the game.

[jazgr8]

In fact, if it were a gay thing, Adam would not have made it to the top 2.

They were both very talented. The fact is that more people chose Chris than Adam. That's it, that's all. Celebrate them both.

[jazgr8]

Sure, it's a gay thing....right.

[zest]

If it takes American Idol to get your singing career established you've go no talent.

[EdCoughlin]

Lambert lost because the world already has enough over the top rock man divas like David Bowie, Elton John, Kiss (who not coincidentally embraced him as one of their own) and all the rest. It's not just a gay thing, I don't think all of Kiss is gay, its a tact thing. Being over the top theatrical hasn't really been intriguing since just about every male act was doing it back in the 80s. You can dislike rock as theatre without disliking gay people in general. I don't care if REM has a gay front man for instance, I still appreciate a lot of their music because its more then just fanciful strutting on the stage in outlandish get ups.

You might be right that Idol picked the wrong winner, as it often does, but that doesn't mean Lambert was the one who deserved it. Vocal talent is not the rubric of a star anyway, just a component. Look at the big stars of Rock in the past two decades; you have Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day, a passable singer, Kurt Cobain, ditto, Eddie Vetter, also not amazing at singing, The Linkin Park leads who can rap far more then they can sing and many more. What vocal diva has made it big in rock lately from the male side of things in the last 2 decades? Its been a long time since vocal talents like Robert Plant (Zeppelin), Freddie Mercury and Steven Tyler ruled the rock roost.

[mmorgann]

For all of his unbridled flamboyancy, Adam Lambert still came in second. I think that is great! His sexuality had little to do with his success. American Idol is a popularity contest as much as a singing contest and more of the viewing audience related to Kris Allen. And as much as I love Adam Lambert as a singer, his outfits are frightening. Still, I really look forward to Adam Lambert's first music release. I hope the producers allow him to keep his creativity.

[theharangue]

A lot of people have touched on it, but I think this article has it pretty well spelled out.

http://verttraveller.blogspot.com/2009/05/american-idol-logic-and-math.html

[pyrojen]

I don't think it matters who wins American Idol anymore. Any of the top 10 or so has been exposed to a huge audience; history will vote on the true winner. Two words: Jennifer Hudson.

(I actually wonder whether Adam Lambert may have lost because everyone was so sure he was going to win that a lot of people who might have voted for him didn't call in -- with the reverse effect happening for what's-his-name.)

[llovejim]

Lambert was a joke, I thought. Screaming in a voice only dogs can hear is not real talent...but I admit, I only know what I saw on The Soup when they were making fun of him. Who wants "events?" I like listening to singers sing a song, not make "events" out of them.

[freddiefranks]

If you don't want events, why are you even watching Idol? Or caring for that matter? If all you want is the music, I suggest some Chopin or Rachmaninoff. The music really speaks for itself, which is why it's survived centuries.

[MikeinSJ]

Oh come on! I'm gay, and it pisses me off when people make general statements like this.
Adam did NOT lose, because he's gay. He lost, because he was over the top and way too theatrical.
This show is about finding the next POP STAR, not necessarily the best singer. I liked Adam and yes, he has a great voice and range. But c'mon, I was so sick of seeing his stupid tongue hanging out of his mouth. The man is a character, that's why they put him with Queen and KISS. Trust me, Adam is going to be fine, but out of the two of them the RIGHT guy won. Quit blaming it on homophobia, for
crying out loud.

[mystified]

This is pathetic. So America should have voted Adam Lambert. It would have made all those feeling victimised by homphobia feel good. Wouldn't it? I actually liked Adam Lambert - i.e the first few times I heard him. Then I realised that every song he chose to perform -yes it was a display of vocal range - the high notes and low notes. But all that shouting and shreking got to me. Don't people sing anymore? What is it about noise that people mistake for music? Am glad Kris Allen won in the end. Perhaps better sense just prevailed.

[bronxgirl67]

The best singer in your opinion-don't be so arrogant to assume we all think the same as you.
Personally, I loved Kris' voice and personality while I hated the screeching and theatrics that Adam put out there week after week-way too over the top-hey that's only my opinion and I'm entitled to it.
It's really getting sickening to hear everyone claim Kris won because we're all against gays-get over yourselves-we can pick the singer we each think is the best and no, you don't have the right to tell us we are homophobes-BTW-I always hated KISS and that style that Adam emulated, so no way in hell would I ever have voted for Adam.