Based on the reactions of various morning media programs, our culture has a clear calculus for gay men’s place in society. First, when forced to choose, lesbians are the more acceptable homosexuals. It doesn’t matter if the lesbianism is simulated for shock value or titillation, or if they legitimately aren’t wired for love and sex with men; they will usually be held in higher esteem, so long as they don’t challenge gender perceptions or the patriarchy too much. Being a gay male and flaunting you sexuality, on the other hand, is something akin to the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark, something so horrific that it cannot be shown, lest viewers be destroyed by it.
During an interview on “The Early Show” this morning, Adam Lambert’s AMAs same-sex face suck was blurred out — but moments later they ran a completely uncensored version of Madonna and Britney’s infamous ‘lesbian’ lip-lock at the MTV VMAs. All along Adam has said, “…if it had been a female pop performer doing the moves that were on the stage, I don’t think there would be nearly as much of an outrage.”
Second, pushing straight America’s buttons is appalling. Being a well-known beater of women? Not so much. Fresh off cancelling Lambert’s appearance, Good Morning America booked misogynist exemplar Chris Brown for an interview and performance. After gay and womens groups went paroxysmal, GMA producers had a change of heart. Sort of.
ABC had a change of heart over the weekend and will not let R&B singer Chris Brown sing next week on “Good Morning America.” Instead, Brown has agreed to “come clean” in a primetime interview about what happened the night he beat up former girlfriend Rhianna, according to reports.
Did you catch that? They still won’t be having Lambert back any time soon, but instead of trying to make Chris Brown a more acceptable violent asshole and promoting his new album, they’ll just do the image rehabilitation. That’s… better?
