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Post by lurleene on Jun 2, 2018 17:52:00 GMT -5
But that is not true of what happened here in the US. While he was competing they were showing on the news pictures of him kissing his ex-boyfriend. There was an entire panel discussing it on Fox. The ladies were in support of his talent and saying it would make no difference. But Bill O'Rielly was insisting that middle America might have an issue with him winning. It was obvious that he was trying to influence the vote against him. Adam said Idol was supportive of him when the pictures hit and it looked as if it would cost him. Adam himself said he thought he was a gone, but Simon and the other judges were so supportive of him after he sang Blank or White after the picture storm. You could see Adam tear up from the support. He was on the cover of a magazine speculating about his sexuality and could he win. He was under tremendous pressure with Perez and others snipping at him at all times. They were hell bent on not allowing him to compete like all the other contestants. There were ministers trying to get people to vote for the Christian and again the gay guy. The press in the US is completely aware of that because they were a huge part of it. Of course after he lost, they were upset and wondering if his sexuality cost him the title. So it seems strange for them to now pretend they did not know. He could not give any interviews before the show was over but I call BS on the notion that unless you state it on tv or publicly that you are not out. He sure took a lot of hits and insults for someone who was not out. Once he became a celebrity more became interested in his sexuality. But he was out even if they did not know it or care before. ITA Adam being gay was not a secret during Idol. And during the season, there was an active campaign by some conservative Christian groups against Adam. I even got a flyer on my car in a Walmart parking lot in Tupelo, MS with a vote for the Christian message.
There are some indications that the Idol producers worked hard to set up this battle -- Christians vs. Gay. They had at least four gay contestants -- only Adam made it through to the top 12. And they packed the top 12 with conservative/evangelical Christians - Kris Allen, Danny Gokey, Matt Giraud, Lil Rounds, Scott MacIntrye, and Michael Sarver - half the contestants had strong connections to conservative/evangelical churches and inspirational music.
But Adam did not publicly confirm being gay until the Rolling Stone article. So I think it is appropriate to say that he came out at 18 but that he publicly came out, or came out in the press, after Idol. He passed on the opportunity to do an interview about his sexuality during Idol. JMHO, if Adam was Anderson Cooper (bland, waspy, non-provocative) gay and from Georgia, he could have won Idol. But in 2009, I don't think that enough Idol viewers/voters were ready for Adam -- it was not just that he was gay and Jewish, it was the whole combination of sexual orientation, genre/vocal style, theatricality, makeup and style, physical appearance, not into sports, etc. Plus, Adam was affirmatively from LA -- and Idol viewers were heavily from the US Southeast. The geographic voting blocks matter in Idol. The western contestants are disadvantaged.
Idol has always had a lot of conservative Christians competing so it was not only Adam's season. That's Idol. And we all know that when Adam was competing the contestants were not giving interviews. The Rollingstone article only gave information that everyone already knew and were talking about endlessly. I wasn't even watching the show until I heard about him and his sexuality on the news. Tuned in to see what it was all about and saw a gorgeous guy with the voice of an angel. He was not in the closet on Idol cause I didn't know. Even if he said nothing about his sexuality to the world while he was competing, it should not be a requirement to beat the charge that he was hiding something from the public. There are people out of the closet all over the world who are not on television or making announcements to the press and never will. They are still out. If Adam says he was not in the closet while on Idol that is good enough for me. He should know because it was and is his life. What the press didn't know (tho they did)or some in the public changes nothing, imo.
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Post by rihannsu on Jun 2, 2018 18:15:04 GMT -5
Actually the reason that public figures have to "come out" specifically to the media is that there was a period of time where people were being "outed" by the media. Some of it unfortunately was driven by gay radical activists pushing for visibility. There was a lot of pressure being applied to public figures to come out. I believe there may have been some lawsuits and the media was the restricted to not being able to state someone was gay, etc. unless the person had specifically confirmed it to the media. This was likely a position driven by legal departments. So basically no matter how much evidence there was available publicly about Adam's sexuality none of the media outlets would take the risk of definitively stating that he was gay until he, himself publicly did so.
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Post by bamafan on Jun 2, 2018 18:18:04 GMT -5
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Post by DancyGeorgia on Jun 2, 2018 18:20:26 GMT -5
islandgirljams: My son just texted me from the theatre, new BR movie trailer played!!
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Post by DancyGeorgia on Jun 2, 2018 18:24:21 GMT -5
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Post by melliemom on Jun 2, 2018 18:34:38 GMT -5
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Post by nightowl on Jun 2, 2018 18:45:39 GMT -5
Good post @q3 !
As for Adam being out or not on idol: I actually find it kind of shocking, how much open speculation about these private things were in the media in the US. I‘ve read about a lot of this before, but being late in the game and from another country made me forget about a lot of it. I mean, the pictures found on Adam’s social media spoke volumes. But nevertheless it was still speculation. Was it by law even allowed, that the media took these pictures, showed them and published Adam as a gay man? 😳 Adam wasn’t officially out.
Considering all the talks on these current interviews about Adam and being gay in the industry: Adam is considered a star by now. I do believe, that the interviewer talks to Adam and Shoshanna beforehand about what themes they will touch. If Adam didn’t want to talk about that, he could say so. But considering, that he is on TV without new music out and no real news about the tour with Queen or his music: What should he talk about?? The media looks for interesting topics. 🙄
And it seems to me, that Adam accepted the role as „a gay role model“ in the music industry, that he had been forced into in the beginning, by now. When you look at his Instagram posts after the brunch in LA for instance, I see his pride in there. And also in all these interviews from last week. Adam wears that role proudly by now and it might even be a strategy to be loud and visible. Troye Sivan seems to do similar things at the moment. If they show themselves and talk about their struggles, that causes awareness and things can change for the better.
One question: I‘m curious, if other (rumored) gay artists were haunted similarly by the media as Adam was during idol?
And do other out gay celebrities also need to answer constantly questions in interviews about being gay?
I can’t remember anything like this in Germany. We have a lot of gay artists/celebrities on TV. They are as or more successful than straight ones. We have gay politicians. Some of them talk about being LGBT, when coming out or in an interview a bit, some don’t. In general it isn’t a big deal. In 2001 Berlin elected an openly gay mayor. His motto was: „I‘m gay and this is good so.“ He had stayed in the office for 13 years until 2014. I don’t know, if the TV-show „Jungle Camp“ is known in the US. It’s a reality TV-show, where the contestants must stay in a Camp in the Australian jungle.In Britain it’s called “I‘m a celebrity..Get me out of here!“ It’s very popular in Germany. The celebrities there are always a mixture from all sorts of people. We had gay winners, a trans runner up, a Drag Queen as runner up as well as straight men and women. The thing is, that their differences in all humanly aspects make the show and their living together so interesting. And at the same time, their sexuality isn’t a topic. It’s who they are. From watching the show through the years, the sexuality doesn’t seem to influence the voting.
I just wish, this could be the case always and everywhere. There still exists homophobia in Germany as well. But I have the feeling, that in the arts and on TV queer people are accepted. In football it is not. So there is still a long way to go. And Adam is one of the forefighters.
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Post by lurleene on Jun 2, 2018 18:51:04 GMT -5
When I saw it on CNN, Wolf Blitzer also did not state it as fact. But he was interviewing an overweight effeminate gay man who was insisting that Adam was gay. Making a mockery of Adam actually. I felt bad for this Adam guy. So I was stunned when I tuned in and saw this sexy, handsome man with an extraordinary talent. I was hooked, lol. I think O'Reilly on Fox did say he was gay tho when he was holding up the picture or Adam kissing his ex and insisting that Middle America would not vote for him.
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Post by melliemom on Jun 2, 2018 18:57:48 GMT -5
When I saw it on CNN, Wolf Blitzer also did not state it as fact. But he was interviewing an overweight effeminate gay man who was insisting that Adam was gay. Making a mockery of Adam actually. I felt bad for this Adam guy. So I was stunned when I tuned in and saw this sexy, handsome man with an extraordinary talent. I was hooked, lol. I think O'Reilly on Fox did say he was gay tho when he was holding up the picture or Adam kissing his ex and insisting that Middle America would not vote for him. Like Adam recently said ,to paraphrase, he felt like he was dropped into boiling water with all the early media attention on the AMAs & on being gay
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Post by skaschep on Jun 2, 2018 19:02:05 GMT -5
adamlambert London: June 2nd!
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