06/10/2009
Adam Lambert: The Closet is 'Bullsh*t'
Rolling Stone has posted some family photos and some quotes from Adam Lambert which didn't end up in his cover story. Above, Lambert at two-and-a-half years old.
Says Lambert about coming out:
"There are so many old-fashioned ways of looking at things, and if we want to be a progressive society, we have to start thinking in a different way. There's the old industry idea that you should just make sexuality a non-issue, just say your private life's your private life, and not talk about it. But that's bullshit, because private lives don't exist anymore for celebrities: they just don't. I don't want to be looking over my shoulder all the time, thinking I have to hide, being scared of being found out, putting on a front, having a beard, going down the red carpet with some chick who is posing as my girlfriend. That's not cool, that's not being a rock star. I can't do that."
You may also remember I posted a video a while back of Lambert in an L.A. production of The Ten Commandments, which also starred Val Kilmer. Of that production, he says:
"A few years ago, I did a musical with Val Kilmer, The Ten Commandments at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles. I was finally personally awakened, wearing nail-polish, feeling attractive and comfortable in my own skin for the first time. We'd go out sometimes with Val, and it was the first time I'd ever been around a celebrity — it felt really fabulous. One night, we hung out at his house and Sean Lennon came over to jam with us. I was like, John Lennon's son? This is the coolest thing I've done in my life. But I had a lot of problems with the people putting on the show. One day, the director pulled me aside and said, 'Can you turn it down? The producers are a little uncomfortable. It's a little too ... gay.' I was like, 'Um, are we doing a musical here? I'm sorry, there are fags all over the place, dude.' It was very upsetting."
Watch the video, AFTER THE JUMP...
Posted 12:32 PM EST by Andy Towle in Adam Lambert, American Idol, Music, News | Permalink
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I Effing love this dude, he just puts it OUT there and I do think that the world is ready for it.
Can't wait for his first album, I think he is going to redefine some genres and change some minds.
Posted by: RONTEX | Jun 10, 2009 12:41:17 PM
Funny how he didn't "put it out there" during Idol when it might have really hurt him. I'll give him some credit for coming out now, but he played the closet game when it suited him just fine and I'd like to see him acknowledge that.
Posted by: Glenn | Jun 10, 2009 12:55:37 PM
Yeah I will be sure to take my life lessons from a 27 year old gay kid. Oh wait I was one of those and I remember being full of crap...
Posted by: Fenrox | Jun 10, 2009 12:57:41 PM
He's right. Put it all out there, and the paparazzi won't be able to tear you down.
His openness can do a LOT for gays in entertainment. We're going to have a successful, out, unapologetic, young male pop star. Maybe eventually some of you bitter queens who look at that and say "Who cares?" can over yourselves.
Posted by: Billy | Jun 10, 2009 12:59:33 PM
Don't kid yourself, Fenrox, you're still full of crap.
Posted by: crispy | Jun 10, 2009 1:00:38 PM
Oops. "Get over yourselves" is what I meant.
So, Fenrox, Adam is 27 and therefore full of crap? So all that stuff he says about living your life openly...you don't agree with it now that you're older? That must be a great way to live.
Posted by: Billy | Jun 10, 2009 1:02:49 PM
Glenn: WTF??? He was always out. People like you really dissapoint me. Just because he didn't talk about being GAY during Idol doesn't mean he was in the closet. Many contestants never talked about their private lives and never once did I hear anyone f-ing say they were straight either. All Adam said in the beginning of the season, when the photos leaked, was "I am who I am" and that he didn't have a problem with that. That it was about music. Never once did he lie or hide or deny a thing. So STFU and be bitter somewhere else. What is it with all gay people hating on Adam?? Even Perez Hilton hates him, and I can't understand why.
Posted by: Amanda | Jun 10, 2009 1:07:41 PM
Glenn, he was under a gag order by his contract with IDOL but I think he was making it pretty clear with all the nudge, nudge wink wink references in his interviews. Getting photographed repeatedly with his boyfriend at LA clubs and having him in the audience with his parents during the competition isn't exactly closet behavior.
Posted by: Trasker | Jun 10, 2009 1:08:17 PM
I keep asking this, but "Is there ANYONE in the whole world who thought Adam Lambert was straight? Even a little bit? At ALL?".
No, nobody believed for a minute that he was straight and he never said he was straight. What he *did* do was put pictures of his boyfriend out there. That doesn't sound closeted to me. American Idol made him sign a contract with a 'morality clause' to keep it under wraps, but nobody on the freakin' planet really, really thought he was straight.
Kay?
Posted by: Wheezy | Jun 10, 2009 1:11:53 PM
I just love how bitter old FAGS (I say that word with the most condescending grin,in the same way you do with young people) think they are smarter and more superior than young gay people.
Fenrox,in your case,no matter how old you get you are STILL full of crap.That also goes for the rest of you old fat sacks of cellulite who think you are better than those of us under 30.
Fenrox you are living proof,that just because you are older does NOT in any WAY/SHAPE/FORM make you more maturer,smarter and more superior,and it does NOT make you more experienced either.
Any smart person older or younger will tell you LIFE..is one big learning experience,you can learn new things even at the age of 72. And that more experienced arguement is no more valid than the right-wingers arguments against civil rights for gays and marriage equality. There is WAY TOO much to do in this world to say you experienced it all and have "been there,done that",the truth is YOU HAVENT!!!
Some of you old farts need to stop using your head as a butt-plug and get it out of your ass.Because while some of you bullshit about how young people are full of crap.You are full of crap 10x more than we are.
GROW THE FUCK UP!!!
Posted by: Nelson | Jun 10, 2009 1:15:13 PM
RONTEX he hardly played the closet game like Clay Aiken. He never played straight or said his sexuality was a private matter. He said he was comfortable with who he is. He was open about being gay backstage, bringing his boyfriend to meet the other finalists. Heck, he even changed song lyrics, replacing the pronoun "she" with the more inclusive "you". Don't underestimate this story's impact on popular culture. Adam Lambert is a hero to us all.
Posted by: JimSur212 | Jun 10, 2009 1:21:16 PM
@ Amanda
I dont hate Adam,but I do think some gay people who are hating on him are just bitter envious lunatics who just cant accept that another gay person is doing well for himself, WITHOUT their approval.It was no different with David Hyde Pierce (who played my favorite character on Frasier, Dr.Niles Crane)
Get this through your thick water-retaining skulls bitches:
Not every gay person on this planet has to flaunt his/her sexual orientation to prove they are gay and proud.For the better half of us,being gay is NOT all we are and it is NOT all we have going for ourselves. How about waking the fuck up and smelling the Reality of life for a change.
Posted by: Nelson | Jun 10, 2009 1:23:51 PM
Watch it NELSON! I'm 50 and on YOUR side.
Posted by: JimSur212 | Jun 10, 2009 1:24:01 PM
He just became a little less insufferable to me :)
Posted by: Toto | Jun 10, 2009 1:24:40 PM
Nelson,
Reading one of your comments is like listening to Real World and Road Rules cast members agonize over who their going to send to the gauntlet next.
Posted by: crispy | Jun 10, 2009 1:34:36 PM
Hey JIMSUR212, I think you meant your comment for Glenn who posted after me.
You and I are on the same page for this one.
Btw, I'm 47 and have chosen to keep evolving along with the new generations to be a better father and hopefully a better mentor to younger gay youth.
Yeah, I put it out there everyday with my kids friends and parents and it's been an amazing journey so far, people CAN change... GO LAMBERT
Posted by: RONTEX | Jun 10, 2009 1:46:04 PM
He's beautiful in his senior photo, I wish he hadn't gone goth. :-(
Good for him, he knows how to play the game, a game that the breeders hypocritically set the rules for. He's not anywhere near as despicable as people of my generation like Rock Hudson or Roy Cohn or [lists dozens of others]
Hahahahaha, I'm listening to the radio and what should come on as I type this but Depeche Mode's "Policy of Truth", a big snarky "FUCK YOU" to closet cases:
You had something to hide
Should have hidden it, shouldn't you
Now you're not satisfied
With what you're being put through
It's just time to pay the price
For not listening to advice
And deciding in your youth
On the policy of truth
Things could be so different now
It used to be so civilised
You will always wonder how
It could have been if you'd only lied
It's too late to change events
It's time to face the consequence
For delivering the proof
In the policy of truth
Never again
Is what you swore
The time before
Never again
Is what you swore
The time before
Now you're standing there tongue tied
You'd better learn your lesson well
Hide what you have to hide
And tell what you have to tell
You'll see your problems multiplied
If you continually decide
To faithfully pursue
The policy of truth
Never again
Is what you swore
The time before
Never again
Is what you swore
The time before
Posted by: Henry Holland | Jun 10, 2009 1:50:23 PM
Nelson, I agreed with you the other day, but today I have to tell you to knock it off with all the motha' fuckin' profanity! Some visitors here to Towleroad are fucking gentlemen...and gentle queen bitches. God dammit!
Posted by: Derrick from Philly | Jun 10, 2009 1:55:19 PM
Oh, for Christ sakes. "Everyone knew" that Clay Aiken was gay, too, but he was still in the closet. Ditto for Rosie, Ellen, k.d., you name it. Acknowledging it proudly and openly is important -- if it weren't, why the big deal about Adam coming out now?
And the idea that his contract with AI prevented him from doing so: First, bullshit. Show me the contract. If it actally says you can't be gay, I think folks would be very interested in that. Second, even if it were true, it just reinforces my point: he stayed in the closet when he needed to for financial gain. I for one don't find that particularly praiseworthy.
Some of you are so obsessed with this "star" (please) that you can't even keep your arguments straight. Again: Kudos to him for coming out now, but when it really might have hurt his career, he played the old "not gonna talk about it" game that he now claims to find "bullshit." And he's right.
Posted by: Glenn | Jun 10, 2009 1:55:33 PM
"Not every gay person on this planet has to flaunt his/her sexual orientation to prove they are gay and proud"
Homophobic weasel words: "flaunt their sexual orientation". At least you didn't type "sexual preference". Sorry we're not all NFL linebackers like you, some of us don't have a choice whether they "flaunt it" because it's bloody OBVIOUS to anyone with a pair of working eyes.
"For the better half of us"
Fuck you, you smug dickhead.
"being gay is NOT all we are and it is NOT all we have going for ourselves"
Try telling that to the homophobes, no gay person I know, no matter how queeny or flaming thinks that, that's an attitude foisted on us by homophobes.
So much fail in one short paragraph.
Posted by: Henry Holland | Jun 10, 2009 1:57:58 PM
@ JIMSUR212 & RONTEX
It just gets under my skin that some gays over 35 actually believe their own bullshit,that they are actually more superior to gay youth and act as if they are above a gay teen,20-something,or early 30-something.Its repulsive. Obviously that doesnt apply to you.
Posted by: Nelson | Jun 10, 2009 2:02:03 PM
Henry you are another "LOON" did you take your Estrogen today?
Fuckin Idiot!!!
Posted by: Nelson | Jun 10, 2009 2:04:40 PM
@ Nelson - You don't have to be such a cunt. I'm 48 and I agree with you. You'll be an "old fart" one day missy, sooner than you think. Trust me, you'll wake up one morning and your tits will be done to your knees and AARP will be sending you crap in the mail.
Posted by: Tralfaz | Jun 10, 2009 2:10:13 PM
@ Henry
By the way,if you actually have to troll around on this blog and psycho-analyze my comments.Thats a pretty good indication that you are a socially-challenged looney tune.My advice to you:
Dont quit your day job.
Because this get-up *whispers* is not working for you.
Posted by: Nelson | Jun 10, 2009 2:11:13 PM
@Tralfaz
If you really agreed with me that comment would have not been necessary. If you read it properly you would have saw that.I guess you are just as mentally-challenged as the rest of the bitter clowns on here.
Posted by: Nelson | Jun 10, 2009 2:13:37 PM