Adam Lambert's AMA Performance Causes Quite a Stir

Adam Lambert, winner of the most recent American Idol contest/television train wreck, shocked many viewers and audience members with several sexually vulgar public acts Sunday at the American Music Awards.

Lambert's performance of his song "For Your Entertainment" will undoubtedly be the most talked about music award show performance since Madonna, Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera had a three way lesbian smooch at the VMAs.

At the beginning of the song, Lambert proceeded to lead and ride male back-up dancers on leashes. Further into the song, the Idol champion also passionately kissed the keyboardist and rubbed a male dancer's face in his crotch.

The various sexual acts that Lambert participated in with other men at the AMAs should come as no surprise. The singer has been open about his homosexuality, much speculated about while he was a contestant on Idol, finally confirming the rumors after the final episode aired.

The shocking part of the act was not Lambert's open affection towards other men, but the level of sheer sexual fervor that he performed at. The performance, in which Lambert came off as flat (a rarity for such a talented singer) had already generated a number of complaints by Monday morning. According to Reuters, ABC had received around 1,500 calls of dissatisfaction regarding Lambert's sexually provocative act.

Although the gay community has seen marked advances in social justice in the past decades, there are still relatively few super-famous and openly gay celebrities. Are Americans not ready to be comfortable with openly gay performers such as Lambert, or was his act just too sexually charged, regardless of whether Lambert was kissing men or women?

Lambert took an easy way out when questioned about his performance, simply saying that his goal "was not to piss people off, it was to promote freedom of expression and artistic freedom". This goal was not met though, as broadcasts of the AMAs on the West Coast were smoothly edited to eliminate some of most explicit parts of the "For Your Entertainment" performance.

Perhaps the real motivation for Lambert's sexually-explicit performance was not a righteous crusade in pursuit of artistic freedom. Just coincidentally, Lambert's debut album, also titled For Your Entertainment was released Monday.

There is an old adage in the entertainment industry that says no publicity is bad publicity. Will Lambert's racy performance alienate a large number of potential fans who were turned off by the performance? Possibly. Is this fair to Lambert, who is now being judged by many people because of one performance of one song? Probablay not.

Will the buzz now surrounding Lambert help him sell more copies of his first album? Almost certainly. Though Lambert will surely never admit that the sexual acts were nothing more than a publicity stunt, the results will definitely show when the next Billboard Top 40 Chart is released.

Sources

Serjeant,J. Adam Lambert's sexually-charged act draws complaints. November 23, 2009.