History has shown us how easy it is to people the media with Chicken Littles. It’s even easier when the economy isn’t in the best shape. In all cases, it’s much harder to articulate what’s next and why it’s important. It usually takes some very smart people to do that because it involves deep, good thinking. More often, we get fear mongering that is both catchy and contagious. Enter: Peggy Noonan’s column in the Wall Street Journal on December 19th, “The Adam Lambert Problem.” Ostensibly, Noonan’s main point was about the importance of political issues that don’t have to do with the ubiquitous economic crisis that is also quite apt to pepper a conversation. Besides offering little evidence that the American public is, in fact, more worried about social issues than economics ones (she supports it with: “There are often signs in various polls that those things may dwarf economic concerns”), the article has another major flaw. Make no mistake: this is not a story about an angry liberal attacking a perceived conservative newspaper. I would hope anyone reading Mediaite regularly would realize how foolish it is to brand a newspaper based on its op-ed pages. We’re past that tired debate, aren’t we? This is the story of poor journalism. (more...)

video After complaints about his racy performance at Sunday night's American Music Awards, ABC's Good Morning America canceled Adam Lambert's planned appearance today, and CBS' The Early Show quickly scooped up the interview and performance. Lambert addressed the backlash, but offered no apology. And CBS didn't seem completely comfortable with it either. (more...)

video After Adam Lambert's thrust-tastic, overtly sexual performance at Sunday night's American Music Awards resulted in more than a thousand complaints, the first signs of a backlash are being seen. TVNewser reports Lambert's planned performance on ABC's Good Morning America has been canceled. (more...)

video The American Music Awards crowned Taylor Swift Artist of the Year over Michael Jackson (where was Kanye West for this one?) but these awards shows are never really about the awards. Instead, they'll be about Adam Lambert's hip thrusts, J-Lo's fall and a near nip-slip. Let's take a look at the AMA moments you'll be talking about today. (more...)

There was Britney with the snake. J Lo's Grammy dress. Madonna's various gender-bending and envelope-pushing over the years. Music awards shows have always featured big, sexy, diva-like moments, and maybe that's why we got such an eyeful from Lady Gaga and Adam Lambert tonight — where else to go but up? Or, rather, more? There's no question that Gaga — and Glambert too — stand firmly on Madge's muscled shoulders, but after pushing the envelope for so long it seems to have gotten pushed into something different. In this seen-it-all age of the meta, the dramatic, fearless, hyper-sexualized personas of Gaga and Glambert are less transgressive than reflective — two operatic baroque, characters less pushing the envelope than wearing it. Call it "Post-Sexy": Incorporating and heightening the conventions of a sex-charged culture, so as to move beyond it. (more...)

How much do I love American Idol's Adam Lambert? So much — he's fearless, unapologetic about who he is and enormously freaking talented. And he also has a giant set of cojones, based on the album cover for his first-ever album. Could he have chosen a neutrally smiling shot, eased up on the eyeliner, Clay Aiken-ed out? Sure — and I bet plenty of advisors pleaded with him to do it. Instead, he went hard in the other direction: With super-glam over-the-top in-your-face-glittery-Ziggy-Stardust-infused-Priscilla-Queen-of-the-Desert fabulousness. (more...)