Today in Reality Show Hypocrisy: Lambert & Hilton Edition
As we all know, reality stars are bastions of integrity who we can trust at all times. However, two recent interviews with Adam Lambert and Paris Hilton are still noteworthy for their whiplash-inducing statements of personal authenticity, followed by sheer, ballsy fraudulence.
First, let's check in with AT&T's least favorite singer, American Idol runner-up Adam Lambert. In an interview with People, Lambert excitedly talked about his ability to be a role model who is unashamed of himself:
"It's a really, really cool thing," the American Idol runner-up says, "to be able to show people that you can be yourself, and you should be proud of yourself, and you should own who you are and what you're about, and never make apologies for it." [...]
"Conforming is not cool," he adds. "Embracing who you are and what makes you different is actually what's really cool."
Unless it's his homosexuality:
As for all the talk about his personal life, Lambert says just one word when asked if he'll address his sexuality directly, say in an upcoming issue of Rolling Stone: "Maybe."
That's in addition to Lambert's comments in a video interview with EW, where he takes great pains to code his sexuality, obliquely acknowledging that there were rumors about his "situation" and noting that he sang Michael Jackson's "Black or White" to address all the social struggles going on today, what with our black president and, uh, "the other civil rights issues." You can say the word "gay," dude. We already know.
Meanwhile, Simple Life veteran Paris Hilton dissed The Hills, which made her boyfriend Doug Reinhardt marginally well-known:
"The show is, like, so lame and fake. He doesn't even want to be a part of it," Hilton told Usmagazine.com Wednesday at the Fifi Awards in NYC. [...]
"They make up relationships when they're not there, and he just thinks it's lame," she said. "I've never seen the show in my life. I have no idea what it's about. But he just thought it was cheesy."
BUT:
He will appear on the second season of Paris Hilton's My New BFF, which debuts June 2 on MTV.
"It was great," she told Us. "He was always on set every single day, giving fun ideas. With him there, he always gave the most amazing ideas. They actually hired him as a producer to be on BFF Dubai [Hilton filmed a version of her American reality show there]. They loved his ideas so much."
Yes, Dubai. Paris Hilton is bringing her own brand of heavily-produced reality to the Muslim world. "Zahra, your burqa is really hot. But my BBF needs to be able to chug Cristal, touch tongues with other girls, and wear pink. Sorry, Zahra."
· Adam Lambert on His Sexuality: 'Keep Speculating' [People]
· Paris Hilton: The Hills Is "Fake and Lame" [Us]
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Comments
But doesn't Everyone In The Whole World Even Your Grandmother Who Thinks Gaydar The Name Of That Indian Buffet already know that Adam is gay? Does he really have to call a formal press conference and say, "I am gay"? Or am I just making excuses for him since I would gladly let him rent out my uterus? I guess Clay Aiken did the same thing, but Clay just came across as so fake and squeaky clean and boring. Adam is just so glittery and delicious that I'll let him get away with anything. Has the need to have a formal "I am gay" statement changed since that famous episode of Ellen? What about other glass closet celebrities like The Silver Fox? Do we hold them to the same standard? With Adam, I always felt that he was being true to who he was, insofar as he did his glam rock, guyliner, squealy vocals thing and owned it even within the "All American" Idol forum. Maybe I'm just making excuses. I don't know. Thoughts?
Obvi, we know he's gay. But never underestimate the ability of the Midwestern American Housewife to cling to her delusions of heterosexuality as tightly as she grips her Glambert CafePress tee.
I also think it's ironic that he talks about being a true-to-himself role model who'll talk about everything but the fact that he's gay. In this day and age, why the evasion?
honestly -- WHO EFFING CARES if this wack-job is a gayfee or not?
Is there anything more unappealing than hypocrisy? Maybe lady bodybuilders and possibly old reruns of Happy Days, but it's definitely in the Top 5.
Kinda like if Obama, when asked about his race, had answered, "Maybeeeee! Wouldn't you like to know!"
Are you kidding?? Hypocrisy doesn't even make the Top 5 Unappealing Things About Adam Lambert list:
1. He's a banshee
2. He's a dummy
3. He's self-impressed
4. He's overstated
5. He has Pikachu hair
Yeah, he's also a hypocrite, but when you consider everything else, does it even matter?
Hypocrisy? Adam?
In that same EW interview you cite, Lambert states :
a) The gold platform boots he wore to perform with KISS were his very own and he's worn them tipsy to many a bar.
b) He got his Thunderdome like shoulder pads from the Bob Mackie wardrobe collection that a drag queen friend of his hooked him up with. And...
c) He didn't see why Bill O'Reilly thought the photos of him kissing a guy were embarassing and wondered why they were censored.
The only reason this man would be in any closet is to look for more of Cher's castoffs.
I think the real answer to Adam Lambert's avoidance of addressing so obvious a topic is quite simply the fact that it keeps people talking about him.
Just like with the months of speculation as to the relationship between Lindsay Lohan and Samantha Ronson, we already all know. It's right in our face, so why do we feel the need to hear confirmation?
This works out all too conveniently for the aforementioned celebrities. After getting booted off the set of Ugly Betty for being too useless even for a guest spot, Lindsay stayed in the public eye and gossip rags for the simple fact that she kept people wondering, "Are her and Samantha really...?"
Adam is not stupid, or at least Adam's people aren't, and employing the same strategy of rumor-marketing keeps him much more of a hot topic for a much longer period of time.
Because where Kris Allen can sell three times as many downloads of the same song as Adam because he has the talent to back it up, Adam needs the gossip angle to keep his name in the headlines. Novelty acts fade and are forgotten about, they simply don't have the sustainability of talent that is not niche-based. This is a way to turn Adam's 15 minutes into a half-hour, hypocrisy being a mere negligible side-effect.
who cares what sex he's into, he is here for his talent and that he absolutely has. so all you haters get a life of your own and acknowledge talent when you see it, that's what this is really about.
The only talent Adam has is as a stereotypical drag queen with a voice to peel paint by.