Gene Simmons on Adam Lambert: I Think He Killed His Career
In a recent interview, KISS’s Gene Simmons clarifies some recent statements he’s made on Adam Lambert:
Adam Lambert’s performance with Kiss on ‘American Idol’ was amazing. But I’m a little bummed you’ve been talking smack about him…
I don’t think I’ve been talking smack at all. In fact, if anything, I’ve been soft-peddling. He’s enormously talented, best talent ‘American Idol’ has had, but I think he killed his career because now the conversation is not about his talent but about his sexual preference. He’s done. You’re forcing people to deal with issues they may not be interested in. Life is unfair, and the masses don’t all live in L.A. They live in Wisconsin and Nebraska, and you’re on crack if you think the same rules apply there. My advice is still the same, shut the f*** up, just sing and let people say whatever they want. But I do wish him the best because he’s got all the talent in the world. If only the world was not homophobic, but it is. I would be the first one to vote for equal rights for gay women and men, and get the church and the state to stop telling everybody how to lead their lives, but do I think he’s killed his career? Oh, in an instant. I hope I’m completely wrong. I hope he becomes the next Beatles and proves me wrong.
Eh, I think Simmons head is still stuck in the 70’s. Adam didn’t suddenly spring his sexual preference on America through Rolling Stone magazine–it had been a topic of conversation all throughout the American Idol competition. I think the reaction from America is one, big collective yawn…
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161 Responses to “Gene Simmons on Adam Lambert: I Think He Killed His Career”
isisdagmar — Very, very well said. Thank you.
GS did tone down his remarks a bit in this latest interview, so it’s useful to go back to his original statements, which he says he totally stands by.
IsIsDagmar: Farm animals? Homophobes relating sex with sheep or cows to sex between two humans of the same gender? Never heard of it, and I don’t know anyone who would draw such a relationship–directly or even tangentially. Ick.
That particular quote is almost nonsensical; it’s a fragmented thought. And so I have no idea what he meant by it. It was certainly hypothetical. Perhaps he meant that the farm animal angle would actually (if true) be worthy of revelation, lol! Gene has a sick sense of humor, this we know. But seriously, he likely changed gears and just ended the thought with a “who cares?” because a) he was either lost in his own thoughts, or b) he meant to say that Adam should be talking more about his music.
Perhaps Gene believes that while his own exploits dovetail nicely with a fan-centric marketing strategy relating to a classically heterosexual, male-dominated rock and roll ethos, Adam’s confessions (and accompanying photo essays) do not.
Oh of course! Bestiality, pedophilia, and incest are always compared to homosexuality by the most rabid homophobes.
ETA: I’m not saying GS is a necessarily a rabid homophobe, but he sure impersonates one well when he shoots his mouth off like that.
And Mr. Ross, the music critic, should apologize for bastardizing and otherwise devaluing the term “heroic.” Indeed, Adam’s coming out after Idol surely couldn’t be termed “heroic” by any definition in light of the fact that “everyone” supposedly knew about it already. Of course, if “everyone” knew, why didn’t he just go ahead and spill the beans on-air? Now THAT would have been “heroic” in my book. But, of course, we all know why he chose not to make the announcement mid-season. Hint: It has nothing to do with legal mumbojumbo.
yep, I am sure that would be considered heroic, to just stand up on the idol stage and say, oh, and by the way, I like dudes. Way to go Adam, context, please? Seriously….
These comparisons are ubiquitous. Read any statement by anyone who opposes gay marriage, especially any politician. Read any statement by any pastor or other religious leader who opposes gay marriage. Look at any of the ads run or statements made about Prop 8. Listen to Rush Limbaugh. Turn on Fox News pretty much any time.
When people don’t approve of homosexuality, they compare it to bestiality, incest, and pedophilia. This is done constantly, and has been done for decades, especially by the religious right. You’re the first person I’ve ever come across, in any part of the country, who wasn’t aware of such comparisons, and I highly doubt that Simmons isn’t.
I’m not saying that he’s necessarily a “rabid homophobe” as Will said, but the fact that his mind jumped from gay sex to sex with animals (again, that would never happen with someone discussing heterosexual sex) speaks of at least some homophobia, whether conscious or unconscious. A “sick sense of humor” doesn’t lead someone to indirectly put gay sex in the same category as bestiality. Homophobia does that, and I’ve seen that comparison made too often to believe that it can be made innocently.
Those are just the facts. If you really don’t want to believe that his comments might contain offensive elements, you don’t have to.
As for Adam being heroic: he has said that he didn’t want to have to deal with questions about his sex life while he was trying to focus on the music and acclimate to his sudden fame, and he wanted his time on AI to be as much about him as a singer/performer as possible, so he just was himself without discussing it until after the show, which seems like a perfectly valid way of dealing with that situation to me. No one else was being commanded to discuss their personal lives at the expense of their music, so I don’t see why the fact that he is gay means he should have been the only one to do that.
I don’t think anyone’s claiming that Adam is the heir-apparent to Harvey Milk and MLK or anything like that. But it takes real guts to live your life being exactly who you are when who you are is considered offensive or weird or even evil by a significant chunk of society. I am straight so I’ve never had to deal with that personally, but a number of my close friends are gay, and seeing them be made to feel like second-class citizens (as Adam is made to feel constantly, and as all gay people will be made to feel until we have full equality in this country), yet seeing them still refuse to change or moderate who they are in any way, gives me tremendous respect for them. I have tremendous respect for Adam. I don’t completely know that the word “heroic” applies–I’d have to think about that one more–but I do know that he is determined to be exactly who he is, he’s doing something that no one has done yet (although many brave people have paved the way), and that takes courage. I’m not awarding him a Purple Heart or anything, but what he’s doing does take courage.
Incidentally, this whole thing reminds me even more of why I love Kris. I am Christian, and it so often seems like most public figures who call themselves Christians are the ones comparing homosexuality to bestiality, and I don’t recognize Jesus in that at all, so having someone like Kris come on the scene is truly inspiring.
Absolutely….
Beautiful, thoughtful posts, isisdagmar. I agree with everything you wrote.
Ummm, no, I think what he said was that Adam has killed his career. Killed it. In an instant. Simple as that. That’s my conclusion anyway, based on his words which speak for themselves and need no reinterpretation, imo.
And I think what Ross actually said was … “It seems almost heroic to me.” No, I don’t think anyone’s awarding Adam a purple heart just yet, but I do recognize that what he’s done already takes courage. A lot of other people do too.
Love Kris too. And his brand of Christianity.
Peace, LaurelG. I have a life to live. I merely want the name-calling to end on both sides. Whether it’s Adam’s fans repeating the mantra of Homophobic America or Celebs and journalists milking the gay issue to garner attention or rile up the fanbase. And yes, fanbase because America on the whole has moved on. For most, it was purely entertainment after a tedious work day, school day, whatever. Entertainment. Not everyone is as invested. They do not think about Adam Lambert every waking moment. Let’s go out on a limb here and say not at all.
If they are aware at all, reading the back and forth bickering, will not help Adam. Especially, if people who are in Adam’s corner are labeling most of America, homophobes. I know it bugs the hell out of me.
I’m Christian. In fact, I’m Catholic. My brother-in-law is a Gay Catholic. My husband is a Divorced Catholic. I married in a non-denominational Protestant church, and in the eyes of the Catholic church, I’m not married. I can live with that because in my heart, in the deepest part of me, I believe in the end I only answer to God. I’m friends with very cool priests. It’s all good. My children are happy, I’m happy. TMI Iknow, but I felt it was necessary for some to see where my world-view derived.
It’s a different world with difficult choices to make. People are struggling day-to-day with ISSUES that have nothing to do with Adam Lambert being gay. He’s made peace with it, perhaps his fanbase should as well.
The media iniitially saw that the gay controversy “sold”. I’m sure there was a spike in sales for US weekly, People, Entertainment Weekly. I bought several magazines for Kris Allen that I normally don’t buy. The boys, hot off Idol, sold magazines. The media ran with it. No one I know bought Rolling Stone for Adam, even the ones that loved him. Last year, I bought it for David Cook and he as last year’s winner of American Idol wasn’t on the cover. He didn’t deserve it, not yet. He’s still paying his dues, building up his rock cred and audience. He had a nice piece inside with pictures. Coldplay was on the cover that year.
It was my “fervent” belief, Adam was on the cover because of the Gay reveal. That is where he said he chose to reveal it, in print. He thought it would be cool. There’s a lot of hot, proven artists out there that deserved the cover more. I am not berating Adam’s talent at all.
I am not here to convert you from your beliefs. I know whatever I say will not change that. No worries.
I believe Kris Allen and Adam Lambert were the best thing that happened to America, and I’m not talking talent-wise. They are what young America is all about — on the whole. America would have imploded long ago, if we as a nation couldn’t live together with all its diversity. I live next door to a Puerto Rican family and an Albanian family. Multi-cultural at it’s finest.
Kris Allen walks the walk. We should all do the same. Less lip-service, and more living by example.
Now I move on… Again, peace Laurel G. (I’ve finished debating this. Thank you.)
*****It was my ‘fervent’ belief, Adam was on the cover because of the Gay reveal. That is where he said he chose to reveal it, in print. He thought it would be cool. There’s a lot of hot, proven artists out there that deserved the cover more. I am not berating Adam’s talent at all. ****
This is a big misconception. Adam had the cover long before he was to reveal his sexuality. The cover and his sexuality had nothing to do with each other, the story was just going to be fluff, but Adam wanted it to be more.
ETA: ****Now THAT would have been ‘heroic’ in my book.
yep, I am sure that would be considered heroic, to just stand up on the idol stage and say, oh, and by the way, I like dudes. Way to go Adam, context, please? Seriously’ ¦.
*** ****
There is a time and a place for everything, and I think Adam handled the situation very well. I liked that he did it on his own terms and to please himself not the scoop hungry media.
Respectfully, I think you are misstating the position of many of Adam’s fans here. This whole thread started when Gene Simmons was quoted as telling Adam Lambert to “shut the f**k up” about his sexuality. Why? Because, according to Gene, the masses living in Wisconsin and Nebraska and the rest of the world are homophobic and Adam was, in effect, killing his career by discussing it.
The majority of Adam fans responded by saying, uh, wrong, Gene. The fact that Adam did as well on the show as he did demonstrates that a ton of folks could care less about his sexuality, that the times they are “a changin’” and that Adam has most certainly not killed his career. And, oh by the way, Gene, you’re a big old hypocrite if you think that the folks in Wisconsin and Nebraska want to hear about your sexual exploits and how you’ve (allegedly) screwed some 2,000 (unfortunate) women.
I think the person labeling America as homophobic is Gene Simmons, not Adam’s fans.
Which is not to say that homophobia doesn’t exist in this country. I personally think it does and that it hampered Adam’s initial attempts to break into the recording industry when he attempted to segue there from musical theater. I think Adam has stated quite clearly he wasn’t sure how he would be received by the AI viewing public, and the tears in his eyes during the recent MJ night repeat were a poignant reminder of how grateful he felt to receive the support of the judges and the studio audience in one of those early performances, especially since those kissing pictures had just hit the airwaves and were all over the news. I guess the only issue I have is with people who try to deny that homophobia exists at all or who argue that because we all have “differences,” it’s really a level playing field. It’s not and, imo, that’s a simplistic view of the world.