Adam Lambert says ABC threatened lawsuit after same-sex kiss at 2009 AMAs
PARK CITY, Utah — Adam Lambert revealed that not only did his same-sex kiss at the 2009 American Music Awards spark backlash among viewers, but he also almost faced a lawsuit from the network that aired the show.
The “American Idol” alum reflected on the homophobia he faced in the early days of his career during his acceptance speech at the 2023 Creative Coalition Spotlight Initiative Gala on Saturday and said it came to a head following the “impromptu kiss.”
“I did the kind of performance I’d seen since I was a teenager. I was like, I want to be sexy and have dancers on stage, and I did a couple of suggestive moves with some of my dancers and an impromptu kiss with my bass player,” he recalled, though he had actually kissed his keyboardist. “I was feeling it.”
The “Whataya Want from Me” singer, who was being honored for his role in the Sundance Film Festival drama “Fairyland,” said he was immediately “in a lot of trouble” with ABC.
“The network was like, ‘How dare you?’ They banned me for a while. They threatened me with a lawsuit,” he recalled. “I was like, ‘Oh, OK, that’s where we’re at.’
“I didn’t know. I lived in a bubble in LA amongst artists and weirdos, and I didn’t realize that kind of thing ruffled feathers the way it did.”
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The criticism made Lambert, 40, realize he was a “part of something new” that could help “effect change,” so he decided to lean all the way into his sexuality to be visible to other members of the LGBTQIA+ community.
“I’m going to be as gay as I f–king can be and be flamboyant and be wild,” he said he had decided, “and if it gets me into trouble, it gets me into trouble. I’m not going to back down from it.”
ABC declined to comment.
Lambert was honored by Cody Fern, who co-stars with him in “Fairyland,” a 1970s to 1980s coming-of-age drama about a teen girl with gay fathers. The duo later celebrated their big debut at Tao Park City.
The “Ghost Town” crooner told Page Six at the film’s premiere party at the Zooz Cinema Center sponsored by Fisker on Friday that he found the role “hilarious” because he had to film himself “doing [fake] blow in the morning.”
Lambert also shared that his family’s connection to San Francisco, where the movie takes place, made the role even more compelling to him.
“I love a gay liberation story,” he said.