Adam Lambert Defends Miley Cyrus' Racy VMAs Performance
No stranger to awards show controversy, the "American Idol" alum asks: "Why is everyone spazzing?"
Miley Cyrus took more than her share of hits on Twitter and from the media for her controversial performance of “Blurred Lines” with Robin Thicke, but the former Disney star has an American Idol in her corner: Adam Lambert.
“Listen if it wasn't ur cup of tea -- all good but why is everyone spazzing?” the season eight runner-up tweeted in Cyrus' defense. “Hey -- she's doin something right. We all talkin.”
Lambert certainly knows a little something about creating controversy at awards shows. In 2009, he famously had a Miley moment of his own at the American Music Awards. Who can forget the debut of his single “For Your Entertainment,” when Lambert dragged a woman across the floor of the stage, simulated fellatio with a male dancer and kissed a male keyboardist. At the time, Lambert was unapologetic.
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“It's choreography, we were dancing,” he told Ryan Seacrest. “The sexuality of it kind of got a little more extreme when I got up on stage. I think the adrenaline kind of took me over, and I admit it, and I'm proud of the fact that I did get a little carried away.”
As an artist, Lambert is not alone in seizing the onstage moment. Van Toffler, president of Viacom Media Networks Music & Logo Group, told The Hollywood Reporter that performers often step up their game when it comes to a major televised performance.
“Performers turn it up like athletes on game day," Toffler said. "Did Miley do every move in rehearsal that she did the night of the show? No. We knew her performance was going to be provocative the way her video is. But on live TV, the performers turn it up a couple of notches.”
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Lambert, who was on hand at the VMAs to present the Artist to Watch award, said there were plenty of other performances that held his attention -- particularly Macklemore’s touching support of gay rights with the song “Same Love.”
"The @macklemore performance was really heartfelt," wrote Lambert. "Right to the heart. So glad this message is being spread in the mainstream."
Of course, Lambert also loves a good party, and for him, there were two men who brought it on Sunday: Bruno Mars, whom Lambert described as "the winner for me last night," and Prince, whose secret show at City Winery the 31-year old Idol alum attended until the wee hours of the morning.
Twitter: @MicheleAmabile
