6.29.21 Adam News and Info

Adam has freely admitted it was problematic that the most controversial moves - simulating oral sex with the dancer and kissing Tommy - were not included in the rehearsal.  But let's be real...Adam actually did ABC a favor, in a way.  If he'd included those acts in the rehearsal, ABC would have been put in the position of either having to censor him, or having to defend its decision to allow him to do those things when the shit hit the fan.  And make no mistake, the shit would have still hit the fan.  Those who were offended didn't care whether he kissed Tommy in rehearsal or not, they just cared that he did it when they were watching.  This way, ABC had plausible deniability.  Even though it spent the entire telecast pimping the SHOCKING performance Adam was about to give, the producers and other PTB could honestly say they didn't know he was going to do the two things that made everyone the most angry.  Frankly, I don't know if it would have been that much less objectionable without the oral sex simulation and the kiss, because the whole performance was very homoerotic and aggressive even without them.  But we'll never know.

I was so impressed with Adam's honesty and candor in that Billboard interview.  I especially love that he admitted he would have been jealous if LilNasX's performance had been more closely on the heels of his AMA performance.  That was such a human thing for him to admit.  That he's able to appreciate and admire what LilNasX is doing now without constantly whining about how he was treated after the AMAs speaks so highly of his maturity.  I do think he recognizes that the AMA performance came at the wrong time, both in his career and for society in general.  His run on Idol was awesome, but it didn't give him the industry cred that a monster hit like Old Town Road gave LilNasX.  He just didn't have the track record and the clout to take that kind of chance.  But it was such an "Adam thing" for him to do.  I'd love to know if his team tried to encourage him to tone it down.  I really don't think they had any more of an idea of how to handle his industry launch than he did, which was a problem in and of itself.  Thankfully he's in a good place now.