In a new interview with Wonderland,
out singer Adam Lambert is asked whether he's ever experienced any
homophobia in the music industry.
The 36-year-old Lambert publicly came
out gay after his appearance on American Idol.
Lambert told Wonderland that
he's been out since he was 18 and that the issue of his sexuality
simply didn't come up while on American Idol.
“I have been gay and out of the
closet – very loudly so – since I was 18, and I wasn't in the
closet on the show or around anyone,” he
said. “It wasn’t until the show was wrapping up that I
realized everyone wanted me to come out, but I was already out! I’ve
always been out. It was just never talked about because it had no
baring of what I was doing on stage. It’s not like it was a big
surprise with my outfits or my looks or my song choices, you know?”
When asked whether he's ever
experienced homophobia in the music industry, Lambert, the first out
artist to have a number one album on the Billboard chart, gave a
diplomatic answer, saying that executives were wading into uncharted
territory.
“I think there definitely was more of
an element in the business [back in 2009] but I didn’t find that
the people I was dealing with were actually homophobic but I
definitely think they were a little bit worried about ‘how are we
going to sell this artist to the masses?’ I’ve met a lot of
amazing people but they’re concerned with ‘is there an audience
here and will an audience by comfortable with this?’ and I think
there was a lot of trying and a lot of effort because at the time
there weren’t any other gay pop artists on mainstream radio. It
wasn’t something anybody had any blueprint for so it was definitely
interesting. There were probably a couple of cases where I may have
done things that affected commercial viability but I was doing them
for personal reasons or because I wanted to prove a point and I still
stand by everything I did.”
“A lot of things were taboo [back
then] and got some backlash,” he said, adding that, “it doesn't
even seem like it's a big thing anymore.”
Lambert also said that his fans “have
been waiting long enough, and so have I” for new music.