American Idol – "Masking" Their Gay Contestants?
posted in: Music News • Pop
Maroon 5 frontman/The Voice judge Adam Levine had some choice words for American Idol last week, saying that while he agrees the show is a cultural institution, it also deliberately hides the sexual orientation of its contestants. He told Out magazine that, What’s always pissed me off about Idol is wanting to mask that, for that to go unspoken. You can’t be publicly gay? At this point? On a singing competition? Give me a break. You can’t hide basic components of these people’s lives.
Levine went on to say that The Voice was completely open to contestants regardless of their sexuality, and added that the NBC show is for a different type of person. You could say that Levine is only saying this to make his show look better and win over some of Idol‘s longtime fans, but this isn’t the first time the prime-time juggernaut has been called out for being less than gay-friendly. Of course, the last time the issue came up those claims of homophobia were directed at the voters (that’s us, America), not at the show itself.
When Adam Lambert lost in 2009, it was a shock; there was little question that he was more talented than winner Kris Allen. (Allen even admitted it, saying, Adam deserves this. I’m sorry.) Jim David wrote a feature called Adam Lambert Loses, Homophobia Wins for the Huffington Post where he pointed out that, while Lambert never discussed his sexuality on the show, the Internet did it for him. Photos of Lambert making out with another guy went viral, and talk show host Bill O’Reilly asked if a potential Lambert victory would be a “problem” for America.
And maybe that’s why Idol doesn’t try too hard to out its participants”they don’t want anything but talent to come into play during voting. The show’s executive producer, Nigel Lythgoe, told Entertainment Weekly that a contestant’s orientation shouldn’t matter, so they don’t make an issue of it. I don’t go into my dentist and say, ˜Are you gay?’ I don’t say to contestants on So You Think You Can Dance, ˜Are you gay?’ he remarked. What does it got to do with me? What does it got to do with anybody? When does privacy stop in this country? If somebody wants to say they’re gay, it’s up to them. You don’t expect us to turn around and say, ‘Are you gay?’ Why would we do that?
Lythgoe even addressed Lambert’s orientation, saying “He must have come out before being on Idol, he just didn’t talk about it on Idol. And why should he? Is every actor going on television going to say, ‘I’m only playing the part of a straight man, I’m really gay’?” It’s a fair question, although, as MTV points out, Lythgoe made his point about personal choice and privacy, but he did not address whether the show has an official policy on the matter. So it seems that we may not know if the show is intentionally obscuring the sexuality of contestants. But hey, at least if it offends you, you can always watch The Voice instead.