Adam Lambert's "Loss" Due to Homophobia? A Stretch
I haven't watched American Idol in two years. I watched three seasons and then decided I was done. The format is tired, in my opinion. So, I was not invested this year.
I did, however, catch a clip of Adam Lambert doing Michael Jackson's "Black or White" one night and was mighty impressed with how he held his own.
Today, I am reading that because he was not crowned the winner, "homophobia" is alive and well in this country.
Well, that may be the case. As a gay man I certainly do not have my head in the sand about homophobia, but the claim in regards to the outcome of this singing/popularity contest is irritating me to no end today.
If America really had some issue with Adam Lambert and his sexuality, he never would have made it to the top two. The "fear" of him or the speculation that he might like kissing men would have reared its ugly head and had him cast out weeks ago.
America has been voting for him over other contestants week after week for all these months, long after the photos of him apparently kissing another man appeared and after the pink tinted Entertainment Weekly cover story suggesting he was gay hit the stands.
Despite statements of "I am who I am" when questioned on the subject of his sexuality, Adam Lambert has never definitively said "I am gay."
Without a firm statement on the matter, no one can authentically say he lost due to "homophobia."
Yes, all indications point to the fact that he is gay, but those indications are nothing but innuendo and stereotyping until the words "I am gay" actually come out of his mouth. As of now, they have not.
Perhaps if Adam had gone through the entire competition as an openly gay man I would feel differently about this outcome.
In terms of talent, most people I have spoken with who were invested in watching this season have told me that they definitely thought Adam had "star quality" and "charisma" but thought he had a tendency to scream rather than sing.
Then there is the American Idol voting system, which is a complete joke. People can text or phone vote over and over again and it's been reported that the primary audience doing all that multiple voting are teenaged girls working desperately to make sure their favorite cutie is crowned.
Switch the voting to "one vote per phone" and the outcomes would likely be radically different.
Regardless of this outcome, during most years on American Idol, the top two turn out to be "co-winners." Adam Lambert certainly did not lose. As evidenced by the likes of Jennifer Hudson, Clay Aiken and Chris Daughtry (to name a few), Adam is now in a position to have a stronger career because he "lost." Note that very few commentators or blogs are focusing on winner Kris Allen today.
It's a great spot for Lambert to be in because it brings all the attention to the "problem." I just don't think the "problem" in this case is homophobia.
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I just want to say really that regardless of what we all think about talent or gayness or whatever - American Idol's voting system is flawed and hackable and that puts any winners based on voting under serious suspicion. The show's premise is that it is a talent contest and unfortunately America is not qualified to judge that talent. The show's whole premise is a lie. It is very entertaining but honestly as a contestant I wouldn't slit my wrist if I didn't win on American Idol. Now if my horrible audtion (and it would be) were played over and over on youtube to be laughed and made fun of then maybe I would think of ending it all. lol (kidding)
No really Paul what do you think of American Ido's whole false talent contest , hackable phone voting system thing? I would love to hear that. I enjoy your commentary. Also LOL to the guy who said you were a rogue gay. WTF???? lol
If i am not a feminist am I a rogue woman?
sorry but that was just hilarious
I have had a lot of gay men friends when I was younger and I can just hear my friend Ronnie say, "OMG he's gone rogue!"
okay sorry it was funny
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.
Get real. This was the difference between an act like Kiss, Alice Cooper and Queen, and a Billy Joel, Stevie Wonder or Santana. Unless Adam dumps the theatrics, he will be a 15 minute wonder for the groupies and hard rock theatrics crowd that liked to see Ozzy Osbourne bite the head off some animal.
His career is now in his hands. The theatrics take away from his voice, not add to it - and maybe he should study music and broaden his appeal, rather than simply singing.
Even Elvis could play the guitar, and started going downhill when he stopped maturing as an artist and resorted to the stretch jumpsuits.
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Are you calling QUEEN "a 15 minute wonder"? That was a LONG 15 minutes.
In any event, it's better to be GREAT for 15 minutes, than a mediocre bore for 40 years.
And Billy Joel and Stevie Wonder are both vastly more entertaining than little Kris.
i grow weary of this argument. gay.com set up a web site for gay people to congratulate adam and be a nice cozy family cuddle fest for adam. instead hatemongers spammed the site and plastered it with death threats.
its very nice to think that everyone thinks like you. nobody would vote just to be contrary. unfortunately in 2008 people showed up at the polls to vote en masse just to keep the black guy out of the white house.
12 year old girls loved adam -- hes like a real life boy bratz doll. yet another dumb argument. ask any middle school teacher. its their intollerant parents and grandparents that aren't so keen on a gay "american" idol. gays on tv are for socialist countries like sweden. not the united states.
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"unfortunately in 2008 people showed up at the polls to vote en masse just to keep the black guy out of the white house."
How'd that work out for them? I was under the impression that in 2008 people showed up at the polls en masse to keep the old white Republican out of the White House. Did McCain win? Have I been hallucinating for the last 6 months?
I think the teen girl thing won for Kris. He said that even his wife suggested that he not reveal that he was married, so he could get the votes. (A little deceptive I'd say.) Also Kris connected better on a gut level, with the entire audience than Adam did. Maybe it's just me, but Adam seemed to be more interested in how he looked, and the big show, the big note, and did not try to connect with the audience. He acted as if they weren't there, and focused his performance on the judges.
It was hard to feel anything for him. I didn't like or dislike him. I was just neutral toward him. I felt the same way about the blind guy. I wanted a connection, but couldn't make it.
I thought the 16 year old, red-headed girl with the Spanish name, was not only the best singer, but she also connected very well with the audience. Danny Gokey was pretty good about that too.
Bottom line. Kris was the most likable overall, and the teen girls liked him, and he won. Now they find out that he's married--too late.
My concern is the voting procedure I think it is outrageous that 38 million votes came from AK that is over 1/3rd of the votes that were cast that night through phones and texting. I believe that they should use a voting system like Dancing with the Stars and limit the amount of votes per phone line that will of course cut down Ryan saying after 100 million votes the winner is but it would be a lot more equal not only to the final 2 but to all the finalists. How many have gone early because of the voting and not by talent. Until they change that system this is going to happen. As upset as I was over the results I have read and listened to Adam and he wants his fans to calm down and look to the future like he is. He isn't upset or outraged he is happy to have had the AI platform to perform and now he will have a career that he can chose to do. I wish Kris the best but as upset as I was over the winner Adam isn't and being critical and judgemental towards Kris and his fans makes Adam's fans no better than being hypocrites. We can't change the outcome of the winner but we can support Adam so I wish everyone would calm down and be happy Adam made it this far he certainly is and isn't that what counts?
Thanks for a very balanced POV.
Paul Katz wrote "Despite statements of "I am who I am" when questioned on the subject of his sexuality, Adam Lambert has never definitively said "I am gay."
"Without a firm statement on the matter, no one can authentically say he lost due to 'homophobi
Leaving aside whether homophobia influenced the results of this show, homophobia is found in the mind of the beholder, and not in the reality of the beheld.
In my community, a young straight man was murdered by being thrown from a high bridge because a gang of youths thought he was homosexual. They were wrong, but the incident finally opened the eyes of the community that homosexuals don't cause homophobia, and neither are homosexuals the only victims of homophobia.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts on the subject. Your comment was very insightful
Thank you for your heartfelt comments.
Paul
I think you miss the subtlety of the argument. Here is how I would make the argument:
on a strict comparison of vocal virtuosity, Adam beats Kris handily. So apparently enough people were motivated by something other than actual singing ability to cast votes for Kris.
While it is true that you don't have to be an extraordinary singer to be a charismatic stage presence, you just have to be passable. OK, Kris is certainly a passable singer. Who is the more charismatic stage presence is a matter of taste, though. Taste is a complex thing though (see Pierre Bourdieu's "Distinction" to get a sense of how complex) that can be a function of education, social class, demographics and personal experiences and prejudices. So what is it that would account for more people's tastes preferring Kris over the clearly more musically talented Adam?
That is where people stumble on the cliche of homophobia. I say there is a cultural hostility but it isn't homophobia per se. It is more like a general aversion among certain people against everything that Adam, with his queer, black goth hair, earlobe plugs, eyeliner, nail polish, and flamboyantly campy costumes represents (and I suppose, on the other side, an aversion to everything Kris in his plain vanilla, main street blandness represents). It isn't homophobia - maybe it is a more general hostility to queerness in its broadest sense. It is what it is though... A reminder of how cultural tastes break down in the
Great analysis! I totally agree. I'm one of the people who couldn't take Adams sreaming..
Thanks for pointing out that AI is a singing/popularity contest. If it were purely a singing contest, then we would not be allowed to vote and it would be left to the judges to choose a winner.
Thanks for pointing out the teenage girl factor....
Well done for the best article on the subject so far.
I didn't even think Adam was gay in the first place...lo
well said! I like them both, but could see how Adam's hard rock style would be less appealing to the masses. There's no doubt they will both be successful. Chris had an easy going sound like Dave Matthews that I liked; Adam was an entertaining performer but sometimes over the top.
Continued comment:
In its most extreme to use the position that this this isn't Homophobia because Adam hasn't declared his position on the Kinsey scale...wo
Well said!
i wonder why some gay people tend to think its all about their orientation etc. I dont think people care that much in these kind of instances. I do think that the writer has a point. Who are the voting public thats what we have to review instead of all these assumprtions that are being made.
Full disclosure I am friends with Paul Katz and it is this article that actually made me become a participating memebr of the Huffington Post. I have been lurking in the shadows for years. Paul and I have debated this on Facebook and I felt that I needed to voice my opinion in a more public forum. That being said I disagree with Paul on a couple of his points. Most specifically that this had nothing to do with Homophobia. My original assessment was that the basis of Paul's argument is that it can't be Homophobia since Adam never publicly admitted to being gay. Paul countered with a correction that his argument was that if there had been Homophobia Adam wouldn't have gotten this far. My argument below counters this by saying it wasn't until recently (and after Adam was far along in the comnpetition) that the mainstream press really started to focus on the disunion between these two contestants. I went on tosay that Lambert like Liberace before him didn't have to admit to being gay to actually be or perceived to be gay. Further I know without a doubt there was some amount of Homophobia here. Each and every time the mainstream press discussed Adam versus Kris they used words like flamboyant and gay to describe the former and conservative Christian to describe the latter. If this wasn't Homophobia then why the use of dichotomic descriptives day after day in the mainstream press?
wow...who new this would be what was said..i am sure if the guy had been black it would have been b/c we are all racist...a
i agree with some of what you said except about the voting system
the voting system is hacked so i doubt anyone won on that show based soley on a credible vote
i think if the voting system was honest the winners would probably surprise ppl
why 38mill votes the first week compared to 100 mill votes the last week?
it s not due to late comers its due to ppl running their phone hacks more
but yes i do agree everytime ppl dont get their way its due to some kind of bias
the bias' are still out there but not as bad as ppl think and really do you guys really think that gay ppl only voted for adam cuz hes gay? or that only black ppl voted for the black contestants or women only voted for the girls?
i mean come on really?
do you think obama won cuz only black ppl voted for him?
did all black ppl vote for obama?
if a black person didnt vote for obama are they a traitor to their race?
if a gay person didnt vote for adam are they a traitor to gay ppl?
i will never beleive adam didnt win because he is gay
i didnt vote for adam cuz i didnt like him as much as i liked danny or kris i even liked allison better
why
i dont know its my personal taste
they all had a lot of talent
contd
Let's see - I know you can place an extraordinary number of phone calls within a very limited amount of time with the right computer equipment. Who would have such equipment and have the time and motive to use it to hack the voting system, I wonder?
contd sorry
adam wasnt the only talented person there
mean honestly the show is a talent show supposedly so why are tone deaf moronic americans voting on it even?
that makes the whole show's concept stupid
i say one pick categories like they did but let the contestants pick their own songs
being made to sing a song you hate or dont connect to is stupid and makes you look bad
worst performances were when they were being made to do songs out of their category
secondly pick a larger panel of judges
have guest judges each year and let the judes ONLY vote on talent since musicians are the only ones qualified to actually judge musical talent
i say have a variety of musicians and some producers on to vote
that would make this show more fair and more entertaining
let the ppl vote on things like flair and showmanship and let that score be only a small part of the scoring
I agree with some of your ideas. Instead of having a guest artist each week, why not have guest judges - it would have been more interesting seeing Slash or Smokey Robinson actually deciding who was going home that week...
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Have a LARGER panel of judges? Yikes! Just adding one more was a disaster. Less judging and more singing!
Having BETTER judges would be good. Randy can not create a complete sentence or ever say anything meaningful, Simon is more concerned with his lame "witticisms," and Paula is off on Mars, babbling in tongues.
Meanwhile, on SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE, they have judges who speak grammatical English, in complete sentences, and actually expertly analyze the performances they critique. Why, it's almost like they are knowledgeable and articulate - and sober.
Stopped reading your post when you said "if the guy had been black" Perhaps you haven't noticed, but Very, Very few black men have ever made it to the top 10. Very few have even made it to Hollywood in fact. Therefore, it seems really good black male singers don't even waste their time auditing for Idol anymore. The judges won't select them.
We know there are a few black males who can sing out there. Over the years, I've heard a few of their recordings. In fact, half the tunes sung in the Idol competitions were first sung by black male artists--Marvin Gaye, Sam Cooke, Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, Lionel Ritchie, Otis Redding--to name a few that were used in the competition this year. But, the next Stevie Wonder or Marvin Gaye will NOT be discovered on American Idol. They'll never make the first cut.
So, your point begins with a false premise.
SPOT ON! I can't believe that after so many years people are just now starting to see that this is not a talent competition and has been a popularity/the whole package contest since season 4. This year it turned into song arrangement idol.
The most talented person not winning is nothing new. In fact the music business in general is filled with people who are low on talent but high on looks or whatever else will make executives money. AI is no different.
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Wasn't season 2 winner Reuben Staddard black, or was it just my TV picture tube going bad?
But yes, they need more black male finalists. And fewer white Christers.
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