Adam Lambert Shocks American Music Awards With Racy “For Your Entertainment” - Rolling Stone

Adam Lambert shocked audiences when he threw some homo eroticism into his performance of “For Your Entertainment” on Sunday night at the America Music Awards.  Rolling Stone reports that Lambert, “closed the live show with simulated oral sex from a male backup dancer [and] a brief make-out session with his male keyboardist”.  

What I found most interesting about this unrehearsed stunt, was the presence of a giant mirrored prop angled so the audience could see the look of shock on their own faces.  It seems as if Adam Lambert staged a little lesson in tolerance for his AMA audience.  To challenge the audience’s perceptions and phobias regarding homosexuality, rather than the obvious presumption that the stunt was about Lambert announcing his own sexual orientation. After the show Lambert told Rolling Stone that the keyboardist he kissed was straight.

It became apparent that Good Morning America was not interested in having any of their phobias challenged when they cancelled his appearance scheduled for this week, in light of his performance at the AMA’s.  Lambert is also responsible for 1500 complaints sent to ABC following Sunday night’s award show.

A few days prior to the awards, Lambert had talked about trying to make a statement with his upcoming performance. “There are a lot of double standards as far as that goes,” the singer told reporters. “We’ve seen female pop and rock performers do that for the last 10 years. They’ve been very provocative, owning their power and sexuality. You just don’t see men doing it very often. And I’m hoping to break down that double standard with this number.”

Personally, I don’t think the performance was any more provocative than what you would see on So You Think You Can Dance, or various other shows.  I don’t think provocation was the issue; rather it was homo erotic provocation that has too many Americans up in arms.

True to the song, Lambert wasn’t at the AMA’s solely “for your entertainment”.  He was there to challenge American ignorance, shock rock style.