Of the millions of viewers who watched the American Music Awards Sunday night, only 1,500 people called in complaints to ABC following Adam Lambert’s controversial, show-closing performance. According to Reuters, the Federal Communications Commission would not confirm nor deny whether viewers registered complaints with the agency following Lambert’s “For Your Entertainment,” which featured simulated oral sex with a male backup dancer, a brief make-out session with a male keyboardist and a middle finger to the stunned audience. (Read Rob Sheffield’s account of the Full-Frontal Glambgasm.)
Adam Lambert shocks, Taylor Swift soars: the 2009 AMAs in photos.
ABC also confirmed the network did edit a portion of Lambert’s performance for the West Coast feed, removing the performance’s most controversial moment — “Lambert rubbing the face of a male dancer in his crotch,” Reuters colorfully writes — but Lambert’s kiss with his keyboardist remained in the final cut. Dick Clark Productions, who produced the AMAs, said in a statement that they “did not expect the impromptu moments” based on Lambert’s pre-show rehearsals.
Infamous crotch-rock moments, from Lambert’s AMAs to “Dick in a Box.”
By comparison, when Justin Timberlake tore open Janet Jackson’s shirt during halftime of Super Bowl XXXVIII, viewers lodged 500,000 complaints — but that’s likely because Nipplegate occurred during prime-time hours during the most-watched televised event of the year. Lambert’s performance went down just before 11 p.m. ET, avoiding the FCC’s rule of no indecent material between the hours of 6-10 p.m., so it appears unlikely that ABC will be fined over Lambert’s performance, even though “For Your Entertainment” was broadcast before 10 p.m. in the Central Time Zone.
Backstage at the AMAs just mi...
Article Source: Rolling Stone : Rock and Roll Daily