Adam Lambert Is Tired Of Straight Pop Stars Baiting Gay Fans. Are You?
Like us, Adam Lambert has noticed an uptick in the number of straight pop stars courting gay male fans—everything from Nick Jonas taking his shirt off at gay clubs to Harry Styles announcing that the gender of his partners is not that important.
Normally we'd say "hurrah!" but is it just honest appreciation or crass manipulation?
This week on Twitter, the out singer asked his followers: “Anyone find it interesting how straight male pop stars are pandering to gay audiences lately!? Should we be flattered? Progress or strategy?"
In a followup tweet Lambert insisted he wasn't throwing shade at anyone, but that he'd rather hear artists talk about their music "not be teased on [whether] someone MIGHT be bi curious or gay or straight. Who cares?”
Responses from the Glambert Army have been diverse.
@adamlambert I'd like to think people are becoming more relaxed about sexual fluidity.
— Victoria (@victoriavarone) November 11, 2014
@adamlambert The word is "queerbaiting." A lot of it definitely is strategy and it's done on TV too for ratings.
— annie (ノ◕ヮ◕)ノ*:・゚✧ (@bleerios) November 11, 2014
@adamlambert are they pretending to be gay though or just appealing to their gay audience?maybe the lines of 'Straight' & 'Gay' are blurring
— matt oakes (@oakeydokes) November 11, 2014
Nick Jonas responded to calls of "gaybaiting" in a recent interview, saying "Clearly my heart is in the right place, and more than anything, if they just looked at my life and my gay friends and the authentic nature of where my heart is, they’d just see that they’re kind of ignorant."
What do you think? Are male pop stars just doing what they've always done—attemping to seduce their audience? Or is this taking advantage of the LGBT community for profit?
You can tell Adam what you think on Twitter—or better yet, tell us in the comments below!