6.26,24 Adam News and Info

Wow. Seems a little harsh to me. Adam is a gay man. He is also a multi talented performer. He used an offensive word as a title to a song. A song. He did not call anyone that word. Some of his closest friends are women. To imply that because he used that word as the title of a song to…what? Debase women? Because he’s lost all sense of decency? That seems a stretch to me. I love Adam, his talent and who is as a person. He’s an activist and a humanitarian and a kind human being. If I don’t like a particular song, album or performance I move on. I don’t judge him for it. And I don’t judge him for how he behaves with his friends. 


]In his last live, Adam directly addressed a woman who happened to ask if he had ever had Botox a “B###h” and a “f#####g c##t”. His disproportionate response clearly shows that he know c##t is largely and historically a demeaning, derogatory word  and is deploying it in exactly that manner. This is rich coming from someone who purports to respect and value women, and who, in a recent post I saw (he is wearing a black leather cap), talked about the need to be careful in how we use our words. Before someone states that everything should be taken in context, that is important, but especially when a writer or speaker reaches a wider audience, he/she/they should always consider (1) Situation (2) Audience (3) Purpose and (4) Ethos. Is Adam usually good at what we who taught in the communications department where I worked as a professor for many years called the cornerstones of effective communications? I think most of us would say that he is usually excellent, which means he is aware of those considerations, even if he might not use the exact same words I just did. For example, in his release of WWFM as a gift to his Chinese fans, he reverted to “it messed me up” even though prior to this, he was adamant that he wasn’t going to censor himself anymore and used this song as his first example of taking back his authentic self. Should he have reverted to the original wording for that particular audience? Of course he should and did so as to not offend the sensibilities of that particular audience. Informal communications can be more lax, of course.

Sophie B. I have never addressed my feelings regarding how Oliver presents himself, but I couldn’t have done so as well as I believe you did. Adam, however, clearly does not feel that way, and I am glad he is very happy with his “current love”, words he used not too long ago I might not care for his current era, but this is part of what he needs and wishes for right now, and I won’t stop supporting him at this point because he is ever changing. I’ll continue to hope for that rock album one day and to hope that there will be more QAL.