Adam Lambert Tweets Response to "Out Magazine"

An awards show "ain't that deep".  This is, and Adam's dismissive attitude in that first tweet is upsetting to me.

I don't like what he said in the first tweet. What is not that deep? Because, really, gay rights, battling homophobia, those are deep. Or does he mean something else?

Twitter is just not the right venue for this. For one thing, the word limit is way too low. 

His second post is one I can get behind. I just hope he addresses this in a better forum.

Shana Naomi Krochmal responds to Adam's tweets:

Finally creating a profile after many years of reading this site. (Should I praise Adam or blame him. :-)

Thank you, AE, for your approach to this.  I have been reading different takes on this at different places and appreciate yours.

Adam is not perfect. However, I don't think his tweets were meant to dismiss the huge and important issue of how gay celebrities -- him included -- are portrayed in the media, but just to take a step back from all this current heated debate around this one issue of this one magazine. "It's not that deep," is his obvious coping mechanism and mantra that allows him to keep perspective.

And the fact is, his album is not even actually in consumers' hands yet.  Let him focus on that for a while.  If it does well, and he is a bonafide star, then there is a lot more to be gained from pressuring/convincing him to use his image and fame for more political purposes.   

Being so close to the release of his album it’s in his best interest to keep any controversy to the minimum. I don’t think it’s a bad thing that he doesn’t take this type of things too seriously, with all the backlash that he has gotten, and will get in the future, he will need this kind of attitude to survive.

Michael, there was another, earlier tweet from Adam that you missed that sets out Adam's thoughts better than just those two you cited:

Planet Fierce responds to A. Hicklin's "Open Letter to Adam" http://bit.ly/1yTFLP : thank you to the writer! YOU get it.
about 6 hours ago from Echofon

This link is broken but references this Op-Ed on the Planet Fierce forums.

Since Twitter by its very nature is brief and shallow, Adam instead cited an Op-Ed article that encapsulated much of what he must have been thinking regarding the OUT magazine editorial.

I think agree with those who have commented that these two parties need to stop indirectly slamming each other and just sit down to straighten things out. They aren't middle schoolers on livejournal, they're professionals dealings with issues relating to their careers. 

Just my opinion, I do admit to know little to nothing about Lambert other than what is posted on this site and have learned the hard way that I'm opening up a can of worms if I question too much of what he does. :P

"I paint objects as I think them, not as I see them." - Pablo Picasso

i really just think stars need to stay closeted....or we, as a community need to start showing some goddamn support. i really hate saying that, but GOD!! i just can't take all this back and forth bitching!!

I honestly am trying to figure out what the hell we all supposedly want. equality, respect...?

look at this. people left and right getting pissed at OUT, getting pissed at adam, at each other...over once again....the issue of coming out, the issue of being "gay enough" or "too gay"...straight acting, effeminate...

I just want Adam to be who he wants to be. if he's bi-curious, gay, or even starts calling himself a freaking lesbian...THEN FINE!!! he's an adult. it's not OUR life. why is that so hard for people to grasp?

ok, he's a public figure. CHECK. why is he a public figure aka how does he make his living? SINGING! CHECK

unless there is something...a contract or some stupid form that says "I, state your name  must share everything under the sun about myself with the public, because i am a public figure and they have the right to know everything about me, including my favorite meals, my love life, my sexuality, and any question that is brought forth to me, no matter how uncomfortable or invading as it may seem..."

^ so, unless there is something that says that............i reaaaallllllyyyyyy am pretty sure we can call anyone out, call them names, but in no way.....does that freaking mean we MUST/HAVE to know who they are, etc!

as i said in another post, both OUT and adam's handlers acted like idiots..but a lot of  us are idiots as well. i constantly feel i need to defend people's lives...people I don't even know...and why? because all this attacking going on.

i get so much of the annoyance. the closeted issue, the wanting role models, yadda yadda....but it's going to be soooo hard to find anyone who wants to step up to such a role if we keep up like this.

*sigh* i snapped again. sorry. why can't we all just get along? :-(

"This is just another proof that he doesn't want to do anything "too gay". How can I show support to someone like that? Someone who won't do a photo shoot because it's "too gay", when the man himself is gay? Is that a good representation for gay youth? Is that someone we want to represent us? Who so far has said that he refuses to support gay causes, refuses to be a spokesperson for LGBT rights and who (almost) refuses to do a photo shoot because it's "too gay"."

Wow! There is so much wrong with this sentence.

It's his career, his dream he is following. And people like you, with your insane demands for him being some kind of political figurehead really miss the big picture. He is so obviously gay, so he'll represent "us" by default anyway. But don't you see that he does it beautifully by just being himself. Having a career (hopefully) and not suppressing his "gay" - and he is really not doing that. Come on...have you seen what he has been doing. (The Details shot was for straight males, not women and illustrated the fantasy, not reality)

But most importantly. He is the best singer I've heard in the last decade. That's why I'll support him by buying his music. It would be such a waste if his fantastic talent was ignored.

Jeez, I love Adam Lambert.  (And I voted for the other guy!)  His advice is so totally perfect for this situation:  "Chill!"

OK, let's see now.  On the one hand we have....

marriage voted down in 31 consecutive state elections; a military that kicks out gay soldiers; many states where workers can be fired simply for being gay; kids whose parents throw them into the streets because of their orientation; other kids who can't come out, perhaps to anyone, for reasons like that; and, well, you know all the rest so I don't need to continue.

On the other hand we have....

an entertainer and recording artist, who also happens to be gay, who does a photo shoot for the cover of A GAY MAGAZINE, and who does a candid, open interview for that gay magazine, talking about all sorts of stuff including his new album with the super gay cover photo.  But because the publicist tried to tailor the presentation a bit we have to be outraged. we have to rouse the community and the blogosphere to action, we have to have an open letter to the artist, we have to wake Michael Musto to lament this "semi-closety" affront to our tender sensibilities.  We even have Mia on this site (sorry Mia, but I have to cite you) saying that Adam is a poor role model for kids and she doesn't want him representing her.  Did I mention that Adam was on the cover of a gay magazine (looking rather gay, if you ask me), and giving an open candid interview inside the magazine?

It seems to me that a bit of perspective is in order about now.  Or, as Adam advises:  "Chill!"  This truly isn't that deep, and to raise it to that level seems bizarre. 

It bothers me that people seem so often to want to impose a prescribed set of actions and reactions on gay people, especially anyone who has the temerity to venture at all into the public eye.  "You must be a role model.  You must act this way."  They dig out the Universal Gay Handbook and try to hold people to its very narrow rules.  What's so endearing about Adam is that he writes his own rules.  He does things his own way, and if you don't like it, well, it doesn't matter to him.  That alone might be Adam's greatest accomplishment as a role model.