Complaints Over Adam Lambert's AMAs Performance Posted Online

Adam Lambert's performance of "For Your Entertainment" closed the American Music Awards and opened a world of controversy for the American Idol star. Rolling Stone reported that only 1,500 of the show's 14 million viewers wrote letters of complaint to the FCC after the singer simulated oral sex with his male backup dancer and enjoyed a make-out session with a male keyboardist on live television. Now, a Website called Why Not Glambert? has made use of our Freedom of Information Act and posted a handful of these indecency reports.

Adam Lambert shocks, Taylor Swift soars: see the 2009 AMAs in photos.

Anyone who spent any time in the comments section of our original Lambert AMAs story has a good sense of what made viewers mad, and the ongoing theme on Why Not Glambert? is that Lambert's performance was "inappropriate." That term alone is used seven times in the first nine letters of complaint. A few parents stressed that their young children were watching the broadcast to catch a glimpse of Lambert's first post-Idol performance and were shocked at what they saw. "The entire show pushed the limits of good taste, especially since this program was billed as a 'family show.' There was nothing 'family' about it," one viewer wrote.

Infamous crotch-rock moments, from Lambert's AMAs to "Dick in a Box."

In the West Coast feed of the AMAs, the performance was toned down slightly thanks to some quick editing. As Rolling Stone previously reported, the "FCC heat" that followed the AMAs cost Lambert performances on ABC programs like Good Morning America, The Jimmy Kimmel Show and Dick Clark's Rockin' New Year's Eve. Following the controversy, Lambert wrote on his Twitter, "Goin in a new direction now. Focus back on the music. Don’t worry friends: I'm still gonna be me. Always. W/o apologies. Just gonna experiment differently [with] how I present myself."

The most "inappropriate" thing about the posts on Why Not Glambert? though are the rampant misspellings that plague a large number of the FCC letters. One author declared they were "truely disguisted" and another called the performance "obsene." Another complainant said the "choreagraphy" was inappropriate and even a Senior Pastor at a church threatened to "boycot" ABC because of what they broadcast on "national televeicion."

Related Stories:
• Adam Lambert Shocks American Music Awards With Racy "For Your Entertainment"
• Adam Lambert Gets Burned By "FCC Heat" As ABC Cancels Two More Appearances
• Adam Lambert's AMAs Performance Draws 1,500 Complaints

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Song Stories

“Smells Like Teen Spirit”

Nirvana | 1991

"Smells Like Teen Spirit," named after a brand of deodorant marketed to girls, was Kurt Cobain's attempt to "write the ultimate pop song," he said, using the soft-loud dynamic of his favorite band, the Pixies. Cobain "had that dichotomy of punk rage and alienation," the song’s producer, Butch Vig, told Rolling Stone, "but also this vulnerable pop sensibility. In 'Teen Spirit,' a lot of that vulnerability is in the tone of his voice." Sadly, by the time of Nirvana's last U.S. tour, in late '93, Cobain was tortured by the obligation to play "Teen Spirit" every night. "There are many other songs that I have written that are as good, if not better," he claimed.

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