{"id":3899,"date":"2011-08-16T11:50:33","date_gmt":"2011-08-16T15:50:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/gospelsoundcheck\/?p=3899"},"modified":"2011-08-16T11:51:21","modified_gmt":"2011-08-16T15:51:21","slug":"american-idol-the-voice-and-gay-contestants-oh-my","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gospelsoundcheck\/2011\/08\/american-idol-the-voice-and-gay-contestants-oh-my.html","title":{"rendered":"American Idol, The Voice and gay contestants, oh my"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Adam Levine talks to Out magazine about American Idol, The Voice, and gay contestants.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When I left the Gospel Soundcheck blog for my little hiatus last fall, the hot topic was (besides Katy Perry), homosexuality (which, I suppose, includes the singer who kissed a girl and liked it). I\u00a0know. What on earth does\u00a0being gay\u00a0have to do with singing?<\/p>\n

Well, apparently a lot. Ray Boltz, American Idol, Adam Lambert, Jennifer Knapp,\u00a0Katy Perry.\u00a0All of the posts about those artists drew huge numbers of viewers along with some … er … lively discussion. Turns out that music fans really do<\/em> care about their favorite artist’s sexual orientation, even outside of Christian music circles.<\/p>\n

Adam Levine, frontman for Maroon 5 and coach\/judge on the last spring’s newest competition, “The Voice“, told\u00a0“Out” magazine<\/a> recently\u00a0that it’s “always pissed me off” that Idol hides the fact that some contestants, like Adam Lambert or Clay Aiken, are gay.<\/p>\n

Er … just for the record, Idol might have hidden it but I’m pretty sure viewers were clued in. But I digress.<\/p>\n

I confess that\u00a0I don’t give a rat’s arse about who’s gay and who’s\u00a0not on “American Idol” or “The Voice” or the radio. I pick who I listen to by whether or not I like their music. Same goes for the Jesus fish.<\/p>\n

But I also think that the music industry, knowing that it causes controvery, keeps the spin cycle at full speed by speculating on who’s in the closet.\u00a0 Case in point: Adam Levine’s own interview about gay contestants on singing shows. In a gay style and culture magazine.<\/p>\n

When asked about his own sexuality, Levine responded, “There’s no way to hide my straightness … but if people didn\u2019t think there was a small chance I was gay, then I wouldn\u2019t be doing my job very well. Look at the best ones, guys whose sexuality was always questioned. Bowie. Jagger. Freddie Mercury. I wouldn\u2019t be the front man of a band if that question hadn\u2019t come up at some point.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the record, Levine, like the other artists he mentioned, is also wildly talented. That he makes both guys and girls feel\u00a0all swoony inside\u00a0is just a bonus.<\/p>\n

I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out that music fans do\u00a0support the lifestyles of their artists when they buy their music. Remember back in 2007, when\u00a0the parents of Amy Winehouse’s husband pleaded with music fans<\/a> to stop buying her music to force the couple into rehab? Whether it was a good way to address the couples’ drug problems is up for debate, but it does point to the fact that consumers can send a message with their dollars.<\/p>\n

So\u00a0if you really, truly,\u00a0 honestly\u00a0do find\u00a0an artist’s lifestyle\u00a0at odds with your own values, then by all means don’t listen. This is America. The TV, the radio, your iPod, they all come with an off button.\u00a0\u00a0(Which I was happy to use this last season of “American Idol”.)<\/p>\n

Which brings us back to the beginning. “American Idol”, “The Voice’, gay contestants – who cares?\u00a0 When “The X Factor” hits the air in September, reuniting our beloved Simon Cowell and the delightfully flightly Paula Abdul, no one will be paying attention anyway.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I left the Gospel Soundcheck blog for my little hiatus last fall, the hot topic was (besides Katy Perry), homosexuality (which, I suppose, includes the singer who kissed a girl and liked it). I\u00a0know. What on earth does\u00a0being gay\u00a0have to do with singing? Well, apparently a lot. Ray Boltz, American Idol, Adam Lambert, Jennifer…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,37,20],"tags":[96,172,298,135,175,176,87,174,173,177,178],"class_list":["post-3899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-american-idol","category-christian-music-and-gay-issues","category-christian-music-on-tv","tag-adam-lambert","tag-adam-levine","tag-american-idol","tag-amy-winehouse","tag-clay-aiken","tag-maroon-5","tag-music","tag-paula-abdul","tag-simon-cowell","tag-the-voice","tag-x-factor"],"yoast_head":"\nAmerican Idol, The Voice and gay contestants, oh my - Gospel Soundcheck<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gospelsoundcheck\/2011\/08\/american-idol-the-voice-and-gay-contestants-oh-my.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"American Idol, The Voice and gay contestants, oh my - Gospel Soundcheck\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When I left the Gospel Soundcheck blog for my little hiatus last fall, the hot topic was (besides Katy Perry), homosexuality (which, I suppose, includes the singer who kissed a girl and liked it). I\u00a0know. What on earth does\u00a0being gay\u00a0have to do with singing? Well, apparently a lot. 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