Adam Lambert reveals homophobic criticism pushed him to be 'as f**king gay as' he could be
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Adam Lambert , the 'American idol' fame, got honored at Creative Coalition's annual Sundance Film Festival gala. In the acceptance speech at the gala, he shared about his struggle, "When I went to audition, I was like, 'Man, I don't think they're going to take me. I'm the gay guy. This is a pipe dream, and I made it to the final and I couldn't believe it. I mean, I had no idea that it would go that long. And then once I got off the show, I got signed a record contract."
Lambart added, "There was an Entertainment Weekly article that was like, 'Oh, this guy's exciting, and it may or not be because he might be gay.' And I was like, 'Might be?" The 'Velvet' album singer further added, "Visibility is so powerful. The LGBTQ community has been under attack for a long time, and is under attack again. There's a lot of conservative pushback, and making art that represents the queer experience and stars people. That gives the LGBTQ community strength...hope. It gives us inspiration. It makes us shed some of that shame and self-loathing that we grow up with. I'm so thrilled to be an artist at this time. We have a lot of challenges in front of us. It's not over yet. There's still work to be done, but I am just so proud of the work that's been done so far."
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"There were no gay guys. It was kind of the Wild West in terms of that," he continued. Lambert added, "And a year later I did a performance on the evening of my first single coming out, on the American Music Awards. And I did the kind of performance I had seen since I was a teenager. I was kind of sexy, and had dancers on stage, and I did a couple of suggestive moves with a couple of dancers, and an impromptu kiss with my bass player. I was feeling it. Well, I got off stage and I got in trouble."
He revealed, "The network was like, 'How dare you?' They banned me for a while. They threatened me with a lawsuit. It was like, 'Oh, okay, that's where we're at.' I didn't know. I'd been in a bubble in LA amongst artists, weirdos, and I didn't realize that that kind of thing would ruffle feathers the way it did."
Continuing that, Lambert felt like the best way to beat the system was to "be as gay as I f*****g can be. And be flamboyant and be wild, and if it gets me into trouble, it gets me in trouble, but I'm not going to back down from it." From then he saw a wave of revolution among his young fans, he said, "Over the past few years, I keep meeting more and more young people that saw me when we were a kid on TV and they're like...'You helped me talk to my parents about being gay.'"
Lambert is a household name known for his music that is heavily influenced by pop-rock glamor and panache of the 80's music. Lambert is famous for his voice that is paired beautifully with his acting talent that comes from a major Broadway throwback. The singer-songwriter rose to fame in 2009 after finishing as runner-up on the eighth season of 'American Idol'.