ABC: Going the Extra Mile for Homophobia and Double Standards

So, in case you’ve been out of the loop, Adam Lambert, last year’s American Idol runner-up, performed at the American Music Awards, which were broadcast on ABC. During the performance, the openly gay Lambert kissed his keyboard player, another man, on stage.

No big deal, right? Well, you’d think that. But ABC thinks differently. They responded to the “controversy” by cancelling Lambert’s scheduled performance on Good Morning America last Wednesday. This saddened a lot of his fans and caused a major uproar on Twitter.

But now, ABC has gone even further. The Disney-owned company has cancelled two more Lambert performances that would be televised by their network: one on Jimmy Kimmel Live and one for the infamous Dick Clark’s Rockin New Years Eve.

Let’s get this straight right off the bat: this is homophobia. Plain and simple. As is pointed out in the linked article other performances that night referenced drinking, sex and even rape. However, Lambert’s same-sex kiss has gotten him seemingly banned from the network. Rumor is that this is the network caving to FCC pressure, which raises an important question: why does the FCC think male on male kissing is somehow more offensive than Eminem rapping about having “17 rapes under his belt?” Two men in a consensual relationship is WORSE than repeated sexual assault? Really?

But here’s another interesting point: Katy Perry, an artist who performs same-sex kisses on stage, has appeared and performed on Good Morning America as well as being a headlining performer at least year’s New Years Rockin Eve festivities…and in both cases has performed a song about girl on girl kissing. So, we’re to assume that girl on girl kissing is okay, but boy on boy is wrong? Or this is a case of “Well, with girls it doesn’t count because there’s no penis involved?” This is further proved by CBS’s The Early Show blurring out the male-male kiss from the AMA’s, but not blurring the infamous female-female kiss between Britney Spears and Madonna from the VMAs several years ago.

Or, let’s even go one step further: Perry doesn’t identify as homosexual. She’s heterosexual, but sings about kissing girls as something taboo and “naughty.” Lambert kisses boys in his real life, and not just as a crazy thing to do in a bar. So, it’s okay to act gay on TV or on stage, but only if you’re straight? If you’d actually like doing it off stage it’s wrong to do it in front of other people? Is that what we’re getting at? Does that even make sense?

If you’re upset by this situation, you can contact ABC here to let them know that homophobia in this day and age ISN’T entertaining.