Get off Adam Lambert’s back

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Taylor Swift beat out Michael Jackson at the American Music Awards, Jennifer Lopez fell down, and Janet Jackson stayed fully clothed (we give thanks), but all anyone’s talking about is Adam Lambert’s racy performance, which “Good Morning America” decided they wanted nothing to do with.

For a young artist making a big post-”American Idol” splash, this is a pure gold PR moment, and Lambert’s handling it with the aplomb of a seasoned pro. First, there’s his steadfast refusal to apologize for going over the line. It was, as he pointed out to CBS’s “Early Show,” a late point in the awards show, and things may have gotten out of hand. And, quite rightly, he notes that he’s not a babysitter.

I don’t buy his line that he didn’t know people would react so strongly to his performance. Even if things went wild, he was unmistakably trying to get people talking, and it’s baldly disingenuous to say you don’t know people are going to get up in arms.

But I have no argument with the motive. It’s called performing for a reason, and some of the best performers are the ones who premeditate. Like him or not, you have to respect the fact that he’s standing behind what he did rather than hide behind some lame “wardrobe malfunction” excuse (speaking of a premeditated stunt to get attention — in this case to try to warm up a cold career).

Lambert also gets full props in my book for taking a very specific tack in talking about the critical double standard he’s been facing over this, telling Ryan Seacrest:

‘I do think there’s a slight double standard. We’ve seen female pop performers doing extremely sexual routines for years and all of the sudden a guy does it and it’s crazy.’

Exhibit A: Madonna performing “Like a Virgin” at the 1984 MTV Video Music Awards (It’s downright adorable and tame by today’s standards, though it did make parental heads explode back then.)

Exhibit B: Madonna kissing Britney Spears while performing with her and Christina Aguilera at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards (Watch the whole performance, which is quite good — and it went unnoticed at the time that Madonna kissed Aguilera too.)

Exhibit C: Britney Spears’ “Oops I Did It Again” performance with skin-colored outfit at the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards.

Exibit D: Britney Spears doing some mighty sinuous writhing and dancing with a snake while singing about being a slave at the 2001 MTV Video Music Awards.

None of these compares necessarily to “crotch snorkeling,” but taken as artifacts of their time, they were each electrifying and controversial. Hell, that kiss with Madonna was Spears’ one remaining bit of credibility when she was running around with her pink wig and having… er, problems.

And Lambert’s right. The difference is that these performances represented straight male fantasy, and somehow that’s OK. (No question that MTV and the music industry know their audience.) When two straight women kiss on stage, it’s titillating. But somehow when a gay man pushes things, it’s appalling. Which is the kind of intolerant nonsense that results in things like Prop 8.

Lambert is clear and insightful on his dual responsibilities of being a performer and setting an example as an openly gay pop star in an interview with Popeater.

“‘I could be somebody’s role model, but on the flip side I could be somebody’s worst nightmare at the same time. You never know how you’re going to affect people, being in this position.’”

He also seems to understand that by making such a bold move, he runs the risk of losing fans and narrowing his appeal from a larger audience. And it’s certainly not like he can build a career solely on the back of this one performance — his work is going to need to stand on its own for him to attain a following and become a viable player in the business. But “Idol” notwithstanding, are the people who are really bothered by either his performance or his sexuality really likely to be his natural audience anyway?

Here’s hoping that Lambert doesn’t back down, and that he creates some music that keeps pushing buttons, if not boundaries. Judging from the embarrassingly horrendous comments on Popeater, he may have his work cut out for him.