America's leading television networks
can't seem to catch a break when it comes to Adam Lambert.
ABC was immediately criticized by
conservative groups after its broadcast of Sunday's American Music
Awards, which included a performance by the openly gay singer kissing
his male keyboardist.
In its FCC complaint, the
Christian-based Liberty Counsel called the performance “outrageously
lewd and filthy.”
The network responded by canceling a
Good Morning America appearance scheduled for Wednesday.
A CBS The Early Show appearance
filled in for the loss, but producers there have also been criticized
for their decision to blur out an image of Lambert's controversial
kiss, which was followed by unaltered footage of Madonna and Britney
Spears kissing at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards.
The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against
Defamation (GLAAD) called the double standard “unfair.”
“I would have hoped CBS would provide
the same treatment for images of gay and lesbian people and not
create an unfair double standard that treats our community
differently,” Jarrett Barrios, president of GLAAD, said in a
statement.
“The kiss was not blurred on ABC nor
in news coverage on other networks,” he added.
The media's obsessive speculation about
Lambert's sexuality, at, some would say, his own prodding, thrust the
twenty-seven-year-old into a dazzling spotlight last spring. He
confirmed he's gay in a May cover of Rolling Stone after
finishing runner-up on Fox's American Idol.
Ironically, now that he's officially
out, the media appears uncertain on how to portray him.
ABC has also been criticized for its
decision to air a Good Morning America interview with the R&B
singer Chris Brown after canceling Lambert's appearance. In June,
Brown pleaded guilty to assaulting his girlfriend, the singer
Rihanna,