Monday, November 23, 2009

American Music Awards

To tell you the truth - I have never been a fan of American Idol. I don't like watching people get ridiculed. I can get enough of that in real life. I don't remember who won last season. I know it was a guy - and that it was down to one cute guy who seemed straight and one cute guy who seemed gay. Well - the straight guy won, but the gay guy - Adam Lambert - made a big ruckus on last night's American Music Awards. Here is the video below:


There are a plethora of opinions out there today. I will take any opportunity to use that word. Terms that I have read include: pushing the envelope; double standard for men; double standard for gay men; lewd, pornographic; cool. What do I think? Well - I think that there is a double standard for men, and particularly gay men. Madonna, Britney Spears, Janet Jackson, and - more recently - Lady Gaga - have been doing blatantly sexual maneuvers for years now. Hey - look at Michael Jackson. If I had a dime for every crotch grab that he had done - I would be rich now. But - what is different about Michael? He never kissed a dude - at least on stage, that is.

You know what they say - that there is no bad publicity. Years ago, when I was very deeply in the closet - I remember watching the Grammy Awards with my mother. I told her about Annie Lennox and how she had such a great voice. I nearly plotzed (passed out in Yiddish) when she appeared on stage that night with Elvis style side-burns. It was a little too close for comfort for me and my own issues. I am attaching the video of that performance below. Well, anyway, that was years ago - and performers have been "pushing the envelope" in different ways for years now. I think that it was probably about time that this most recent envelope push was "guy on guy" action.