In a recent interview with Variety,
out singer-songwriter Adam Lambert said “shades of homophobia”
remain in the music industry.
Lambert, who came out in 2009 after
competing on American Idol, said that the industry “has
gotten better” since he competed on the reality series.
“It's gotten better but I can't make
a blanket statement that it doesn't happen anymore,” he said.
“There are always going to be shades of homophobia – sometimes
internalized homophobia that I've encountered from other gay people
in the industry. They might feel that [I'm] 'too gay.'”
Lambert added that he rejected his
internalized homophobia “a long time ago.”
“I rejected mine quite a long time
ago to be honest with you. Maybe in certain cases with artists in the
age of social media, a lot of expression is edited or curated for an
audience. When you're making pop music, one has to keep in mind: 'I
need to connect with as many people as I can.' You want to make
entertainment for the masses. The most important thing is to balance
that with some sort of personal integrity. And that's the headspace
I've been in of late,” he said.
Lambert's fourth studio album Velvet
is expected to arrive later this year.