Who knew anyone could make American Idol culturally relevant?
Even my (very) straight male friends have been sending these news items in disbelief, like:
> “They just can’t believe the nature of the content, the explicit nature, and how much graphic content there was.” (BBC News: Adam Lambert’s gay kiss on stage gets 1,500 complaints)
> What is this guy talking about… a gay kiss on TV last night? OMG.
Carnal Nation explains, “For his first televised performance since the Season Eight finale of the American Idol, Adam Lambert pulled out all the stops and his risqué rendition of “For Your Entertainment” stunned the audience at Los Angeles’ Nokia Theatre and the millions watching the American Music Awards live on ABC. (…) Lambert also said that if ABC decides to cut any parts of his performance for the West Coast rebroadcast, it would amount to discrimination. “Female performers have been doing this for years — pushing the envelope about sexuality — and the minute a man does it, everybody freaks out. We’re in 2009; it’s time to take risks, be a little more brave, time to open people’s eyes and if it offends them, then maybe I’m not for them. My goal was not to piss people off, it was to promote freedom of expression and artistic freedom,” said Lambert.”
Well, discriminate someone did. It seems that this morning on CBS, it’s all cool if you’re Will to my Grace, just don’t be honest about what that looks like. Unless, of course, it’s two chicks. Oh yes they did. TMZ caught it, saying: “During an interview on “The Early Show” this morning, Adam Lambert’s AMAs same-sex face suck was blurred out — but moments later they ran a completely uncensored version of Madonna and Britney’s infamous ‘lesbian’ lip-lock at the MTV VMAs.”
Update: CBS responded six hours after this post, and their response is so thin and pathetic they should really have not said anything at all (extratv.warnerbros.com). It actually makes no sense whatsoever, and comes off like like Uncle Bernie in the rest home talking about what a war hero Reagan was in the Gulf war. Do they really think we’re that stupid, or forgiving of such glaringly offensive behavior from CBS? So sad. No wonder the networks are dying.
Oh, also — I notice that all the blogs are calling bullshit on CBS’ statement. This one being no exception. But considering their “excuse” we must suppose they don’t have a Google Blog Alert on their name. Or internet access. In the rest home.
