Adam Lambert
ABC’s banishment of Adam Lambert continues to be other networks’ gains. His upcoming appearance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” has been canceled and now he will perform on NBC’s “Jay Leno” instead. As you’ll recall, following Lambert’s controversial appearance on the American Music Awards on Nov. 22, ABC dropped him from “Good Morning America.” CBS’s “This Morning” quickly issued an invitation, which he accepted.
To his credit, after his initial blast of calling ABC’s action discriminatory, Lambert has done everything he can to put out the flames instead of fan them. His most recent tweets continue that pattern. Late last night, he confirmed the Kimmel cancellation and added that he had also been dropped from a New Year’s Eve appearance. “Don’t blame [ABC]]. It’s the FCC heat,” he tweeted. He doesn’t name the Dec. 31 show, but it must be “New Year’s Rockin’ Eve.” I guess that’s one NYE’s ball that will have to drop without any assistance from Lambert. Quite frankly, we find the FCC line to be bunk. Neither of those shows airs live (the performances for Dick Clark’s show are taped beforehand), therefore, there would be time to edit or blur out anything that might raise the FCC’s ire.
Interestingly, Lambert will be on ABC on Dec. 9 when he appears as one of Barbara Walters’ most fascinating people of 2010, so there’s not a total ban at ABC of all things Lambert: just performances.
Lambert latest tweet on the imbroglio: “It’ll all blow over. Let’s focus on being positive.” As I discovered when I interviewed Lambert, he’s nothing if not smart. He knows there’s a fine line between getting people talking and turning them off and that he, for better or worse, crossed it with his AMA performance. As he told Ellen DeGeneres on Monday, “I think in hindsight, I look back on it and I go, ‘OK, maybe that wasn’t the best first impression to make.’”
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