CBS Rep: Why We Blurred Adam Lambert’s Kiss and Not Madonna’s
Madonna and Britney yes, Adam Lambert and male keyboardist no?
On Wednesday’s Early Show appearance by Lambert, producers blurred the singer’s open-mouth kiss with a male keyboardist during his controversial performance at Sunday’s AMAs. Seconds later, an undistorted clip of Madonna smooching Britney Spears at the 2003 MTV VMAs ran.
What gives? A CBS rep explained the decision to Extratv:
“We gave this some real thought. The Madonna image is very familiar and has appeared countless times including many times on morning television. The Adam Lambert image is a subject of great current controversy, has not been nearly as widely disseminated, and for all we know, may still lead to legal consequences.”
Jarrett Barrios, President of GLAAD, called the edits “an unfortunate double standard that is applied to openly gay performers. I would have hoped that CBS would provide the same treatment for images of gay and lesbian people and not create an unfair double standard that treats our community differently.” Barrios also notes that the organization has reached out to the Early Show’s producers to express these concerns.
