Adam Lambert and his opinions don’t need ‘American Idol,’ thanks

Adam Lambert (right) performing at the American Music Awards Sunday. (Dick Clark Productions)

Not since John F. Kennedy lost the Democratic nomination for Vice President in ‘56 has a public career been better served by missing the brass ring.

While “American Idol” winner Kris Allen is… well, he’s off somewhere doing something to fulfill the terms of his “AI” contract, I suppose… runner up Adam Lambert is not just a free man, but a shrewd ladder-climber who, for the first time, has used “American Idol” instead of letting it use him.

Having made a name for himself on the reality show machine, Lambert is now free to declare his sexuality (the worst-kept secret on TV since Danny Pintauro) and free to stage a steamy performance on the American Music Awards, complete with pelvic thusts, S&M flourishes and man-on-man lip locks, that stirs headlines and enough faux controversy to ensure people will be talking about him and his new album (released just this week — imagine that!) all through the holiday.

Thanks for the lift, “American Idol,” but I don’t need your middle-American pablum anymore. I’ll take it from here, thanks.

I can’t imagine the Simons of “AI” will be letting Kris Allen do something like this to mark the release of his new album of lite-FM, soft-rock, soon-to-be-playing-in-a-doctor’s-waiting-room-near-you ballads and soft shuffles.

Lambert was scheduled to appear on “Good Morning America” this morning, but ABC cancelled, afraid of a repeat of Lambert’s AMA performance and the ensuing firestorm (1,500 angry phone calls about Lambert in a country of 300 million people — firestorm, indeed). ABC could not have played their part in Lambert’s PR masterwork more perfectly if they had a copy of the script in advance and four weeks in Provincetown to rehearse. And as thanks to the network, Twitter users made the phrase “shameonyouabc” a top-10 trending search phrase yesterday.

But this morning, Lambert added the coup de grace of his shuffling off the shackles of the “AI” prison — he dared to defend himself, refuse to apologize for his sexually charged performance and — get this — actually state opinions and thoughts original to his own mind. Opinions that might not please everybody. Such is the state of television entertainment — particularly reality show, broadcast television entertainment — that it’s almost shocking to hear a young contest winner actually speak his mind.

On CBS’s “Morning Show,” Lambert didn’t believe he owed parents an apology for his AMA act:

[I'm] not a babysitter, I’m a performer … I think it’s up to the parents to discern what their child’s watching on television … It’s up to a parent to watch the television. It was almost 11:00 at night. If they’re concerned with certain material maybe Tivo it and preview it before your small child is watching it.

And then, as if to put an exclamation point on his lack of apologetic attitude, he went on a quick attack:

If [I] had been a female pop performer … I don’t think there’d be nearly as much of an outrage at all.

Adam Lambert’s big FU to “American Idol” this week won’t make him friends everywhere, but then again, with that voice, a humble attitude and a thousand-watt smile, he doesn’t seem care.

Oh… and Kris Allen? Meet Ruben Studdard…