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ABC threatened lawsuit after same-sex AMAs kiss

PARK CITY, Utah — Adam Lambert revealed that not only did his same-sex kiss at the 2009 American Music Awards spark backlash among viewers, but he also almost faced a lawsuit from the network that aired the show.

The “American Idol” alum reflected on the homophobia he faced in the early days of his career during his acceptance speech at the 2023 Creative Coalition Spotlight Initiative Gala on Saturday and said it came to a head following the “impromptu kiss.”

“I did the kind of performance I’d seen since I was a teenager. I was like, I want to be sexy and have dancers on stage, and I did a couple of suggestive moves with some of my dancers and an impromptu kiss with my bass player,” he recalled, though he had actually kissed his keyboardist. “I was feeling it.”

Adam Lambert kissing his keyboard player at the 2009 AMAs.
“The network was like, ‘How dare you?’ They banned me for a while. They threatened me with a lawsuit,” he recalled. “I was like, ‘Oh, OK, that’s where we’re at.’”
AP

The “Whataya Want from Me” singer, who was being honored for his role in the Sundance Film Festival drama “Fairyland,” said he was immediately “in a lot of trouble” with ABC.

“The network was like, ‘How dare you?’ They banned me for a while. They threatened me with a lawsuit,” he recalled. “I was like, ‘Oh, OK, that’s where we’re at.’

“I didn’t know. I lived in a bubble in LA amongst artists and weirdos, and I didn’t realize that kind of thing ruffled feathers the way it did.”

A selfie of Adam Lambert wearing makeup.
The “American Idol” alum said the backlash made him want to be “as gay as I f–king can be.”

A selfie of Adam Lambert wearing a baseball cap.
The “American Idol” alum said the backlash made him want to be “as gay as I f–king can be.”


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The criticism made Lambert, 40, realize he was a “part of something new” that could help “effect change,” so he decided to lean all the way into his sexuality to be visible to other members of the LGBTQIA+ community.

“I’m going to be as gay as I f–king can be and be flamboyant and be wild,” he said he had decided, “and if it gets me into trouble, it gets me into trouble. I’m not going to back down from it.”

A rep for ABC didn’t immediately return Page Six’s request for comment.

Cody Fern, Emilia Jones, Scoot McNairy and Adam Lambert posing together in a portrait studio during the Sundance Film Festival.
The Creative Coalition honored Lambert for his work in “Fairyland,” which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.
Getty Images for IMDb

Lambert was honored by Cody Fern, who co-stars with him in “Fairyland,” a 1970s to 1980s coming-of-age drama about a teen girl with gay fathers.

The “Ghost Town” crooner told Page Six at the film’s premiere party at the Zooz Cinema Center on Friday that he found the role “hilarious” because he had to film himself “doing [fake] blow in the morning.”

Adam Lambert posing on a red carpet.
The film centers around a girl in the 1970s being raised by gay dads.
Getty Images

Lambert also shared that his family’s connection to San Francisco, where the movie takes place, made the role even more compelling to him.

“I love a gay liberation story,” he said.

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