“I don’t think it should be a surprise for anyone to hear I’m gay… I’ve been living in Los Angeles for eight years as a gay man. I’ve been at clubs drunk making out with somebody in the corner. I’m proud of my sexuality. I embrace it. It’s just another part of me.”
That from Adam Lambert in a Rolling Stone cover story interview shortly after he was named the American Idol runner-up last June. Lambert, a singer said to know “his own inner David Bowie, his Lou Reed, his Elton John and his Better Midler,” is set to release his solo debut album, For Your Entertainment, next week. He’s also on the cover of Out magazine’s annual Out 100 issue. But it turns out Adam’s in a semi-closet:
Adam’s people were reluctant to let him appear on the cover. They only let it happen if it was a group shot, preferably including someone straight. (This even though Out was first in line, ages ago, in asking for a Lambert cover. Somehow Details was granted a crack at him first, presenting the singer caressing a barely clad woman and talking about kissing girls, though he did also manage to get in the fact that he’s gay).
And when Shana Naomi Krochmal arrived at 19 Entertainment’s chic office on Sunset Boulevard offices to conduct the interview:
I briefly met Adam, and then the publicist and I walked out to the balcony, at which point I was cautioned against making the interview “too gay,” or, “you know, gay-gay.” Specifically I was discouraged from asking about the March on Washington that upcoming weekend or other political topics… It was pretty awkward, as if we were discussing two totally different people — an Adam who doesn’t seem to have any real filter when talking about his life or his opinions, and an Adam who could somehow be contained, made safe for mainstream America.
It’s true that the Rolling Stone interview was the kind of free-for-all that’s a publicist’s nightmare. But, says Krochmal, “Out is a magazine whose primary audience is gay men. Is anyone confused about that?”
Krochmal was angry. Madder still, Out editor Aaron Hicklin, who gives Lambert a piece of his mind in his editor’s letter for the issue:
We’re curious whether you know that we made cover offers for you before American Idol was even halfway through its run. Apparently, Out was too gay, even for you. There was the issue of what it would do to your record sales, we were told. Imagine! A gay musician on the cover of a gay magazine. What might the parents think! It’s only because this cover is a group shot that includes a straight woman that your team would allow you to be photographed at all — albeit with the caveat that we must avoid making you look “too gay.” (Is that a medical term? Just curious.) Luckily, you seemed unaware that a similar caution was issued to our interviewer.
Perhaps we should have had you and Cyndi in a tongue lock. That would be radical. It’s odd, because this magazine has done covers with Pete Wentz and Lady Gaga — getting straight men and women to do Out is easy these days. It gives them cred. Getting gay stars like yourself is another matter. Much easier to stick you in Details, where your homosexuality can be neutralized by having you awkwardly grabbing a woman’s breast and saying, “Women are pretty.” So are kittens, Adam, but it doesn’t mean you have to make out with them.
Lambert’s tweeted retort:
Dear Aaron, it’s def not that deep. Chill! Guess ya gotta get attention for the magazine. U too are at the mercy of the marketing machine. Until we have a meaningful conversation, perhaps you should refrain from projecting your publications’ agenda onto my career.
Yes it does get attention for the magazine. Still it’s pretty ham-handed handling. Daily Intel:
It’s a bold move by Hicklin, who has pulled up clever publicity stunts in tandem with his big issues before — remember when he put “Anderson Cooper and Jodie Foster” on the cover of their “Power 50” issue? On the one hand, picking a fight with a major celebrity is great for getting attention. On the other hand, severing a relationship with one of America’s most mainstream openly gay performers may come around to haunt the magazine in the future. Either way, he’s on pretty firm footing with his complaint. And a word to Adam: A publicist that sloppy can hurt a star’s career far worse than one bad magazine cover can.
EW’s review is here. You can hear For Your Entertainment now here.