I Will Never Watch the "American Music Awards" Again!
58We Have To Stand Up and Say Enough!
There is a lot of talk about Adam Lambert's performance at the American
Music Awards. I was appalled by what I saw on the AMAs on ABC, but it
didn't start with Adam Lambert. No, quite the contrary, Adam Lambert
was the grand finale. He was strategically placed there by the
producers of the show. At least, that's how it appeared to me as you looked at the totality of the program.
Let's start with the first act of the night. I haven't found anybody
who is disgusted, by Janet Jackson's performance, on the internet or news. Holding your own
crotch when dancing has become pretty acceptable in this day and age.
It was shocking at first, but now many people have become desensitized
by this move, because they've seen it so often, especially in hip hop
dance choreography. Janet Jackson performed that move and her
background dancers did , but what was a new low for me was when a male
dancer that danced in front of her and stood with his legs extended in
a V formation was fondled by Janet Jackson. She very clearly reached
forward and underneath him and grabbed him in the crotch and actually
pulled him back towards her. It was quick, and, if you blinked, you
missed it, but it was there. That was the first routine of the night,
and it went downhill from there.
As the night continued, it was like everyone was in on the secret
except the viewing public. There was a feeling of competition or
one-up-man-ship between some of the performers. Not the county music
crowd. This was the Pop, RocknRoll, and hiphop crowd. For example: Lady
Gaga is known for her crazy extreme outfits. She looked naked. She
wasn't. She had flesh colored tights on with weird strapping around her
legs and arms. She had lights strapped around her chest and head. Her
dancers were wearing the same revealing and evocative apparel.
Midway through her performance, Lady Gaga smashes through a huge glass
window to get to her piano, which by the way, catches on fire. While
she's playing her piano, she doesn't sit at it in a normal manner. She
has one leg under the piano and the other leg is opened up beyond a 90
degree angle. She is very flexible. She also, at times, is sitting in a
reclined position, which brings the focal point of the audience to her
crotch. There was no doubt what her intent was. There was no other
reason on the face of this earth for her to sit in that manner while
playing the piano and singing.
Rianna sang a song from her new album "Rated R". Her performance and
most of the rap numbers were "silenced" at certain points, so much so,
that we thought there was something wrong with our TV at first. We
realized eventually that the words were being cut out. In one routine,
you couldn't have known the lyrics, even if you wanted to, because
there were so many holes in the audio portion of their performance that
it was impossible to follow or make sense of.
In one performance, the dancers were pretty much dressed in S&M
strapping. The pelvic thrust was the main repetitive motion in the
routine. It wasn't enough to have 30 of these dancers on the stage
performing this movement repeatedly in unison. To give it more power,
dancers came down the aisle ways performing the same repetitive
motions. They then turned sideways and danced directly into the faces
of the audience. This lack of creativity in the choreography in this
routine wasn't just some choreographer having an off day. It was on
purpose and intentional. They had a message to get across and they knew
exactly what they were doing.
Adam Lambert took the show to a new low that I have never seen on TV before. I
am so disappointed in the AMAs and in ABC who is owned by Disney! I
hate to even put it into words, because it was that offensive, but for
those who did not see the show, I will describe it as discreetly as
possible. I jumped out of my chair when Adam grabbed a riding harness
that was harnessed to two male dancers crawling on their knees. Then
Adam grabs the face of a male dancer who is on his knees and pushes it
into his crotch. No I'm not kidding. No, I didn't misunderstand. That
is exactly what he did. Then about 30 seconds later he was fondling the
crotch of a female dancer who came down on a pole from above him. He
just reached up and for about 5 seconds, just so no one would
misunderstand, he fondled her.
The only redeeming thing that happened in this show is that Taylor
Swift, who is not only a gifted singer, but also a song writer, and
producer of her stage show, etc., won five awards last night. True
talent can make it 's way through all the disgusting, almost
competitive sleaze and violence, that was witnessed on this show last
night.
There were also some very good performances. Kelly Clarkson performed
her new hit. It was a ballad, and wow that lady can sing and she didn't
have any gimmicks, sleaze, or violence. Just a solid voice and a
beautiful ballad. Carrie Underwood, again a solid performance, although
someone has talked her into more suggestive choreography and costuming
then we are use to seeing from her. Be careful Carrie, you have so much
talent, you don't have to go there. Keith Urban, another Country and
Western artist, wowed the audience with his talent. He just got up and
sang and played a guitar.But it was really good and the audience truly enjoyed him.
The only other redeeming thing that happened if I didn't misread it was
the audience reaction to Adam's debut on stage. There were a lot of
standing ovations that night for different performances, he wasn't one
oft them. It appeared to be a very tepid response from an audience who
are typically much more tolerant of this type of entertainment than I
am.
I will never watch the AMAs again. I think we have to stand up and say
"enough" and not support programs that trample on common decency this
way.Some people called this "pushing the envelope". I call it revolting!
As an update to this hub, I found this article on MSN TV News:
Good Morning America' cancels Lambert after AMA performance
Nov. 24, 2009, 1:09 PM ESTNEW YORK (AP) -- ABC's "Good Morning America" is saying "no thanks" to Adam Lambert.
The morning show canceled the glam rocker's scheduled performance on Wednesday's show because of Lambert's racy appearance on the "American Music Awards" on Sunday night. ABC says it doesn't think Lambert's performance would be appropriate for a morning audience.
While singing his new song "For Your Entertainment" on Sunday night, Lambert kissed a male dancer, fondled another and had a dancer briefly stuff his face in Lambert's crotch. It prompted many complaints to ABC.
The cancellation was first reported on TVNewser and Hollywood Life Web sites.
Thank Goodness. People took a stand and someone listened.








SimeyC Level 5 Commenter 2 years ago
I totally agree - I'm not a prude, but there is a line to be drawn! I'd like to see them 'record' the show and then edit it to make a G rated version - if you really must, you can watch the R rated version late at night! Mind you - a G-rated version would probably only be five minutes long!
"Kelly Clarkson performed her new hit. It was a ballad, and wow that lady can sing and she didn't have any gimmicks, sleaze, or violence. Just a solid voice and a beautiful ballad." This says it all - it seems the times where someone could simply sing a song and use their talent to sell their music are long gone - it's a shame that most talented (I use the term lightly) artists have to use 'expression' to sell their music....having said that...the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin etc have been doing the same for years LOL!