14 DAY TRIAL // There is no longer any secrecy surrounding Adam Lambert’s orientation, since he publicly came out in Rolling Stone magazine, in what proved to be the most successful issue of the mag this entire year. Having recently done a cover for Out magazine, centered on people who made an impact in 2009 for the community, Lambert is now under serious fire with two editors from Out, who accuse his people of trying to make him straighter than he actually is.
Out Editor in Chief Aaron Hicklin, for instance, got so infuriated with the request from Lambert’s people, that he immediately fired an open letter to him, telling him that this is something that you just don’t do. This was not the first time that Out went to Lambert with an offer for a cover piece, Hicklin says, but it was a first in terms of hearing such an absurd request from a manager, namely to make someone come across as straighter. With this in mind, the singer’s people even asked that he not be alone on the cover.
In other words, Lambert’s people agreed for him to do the Out number only on the condition that the cover be a group photo, which is especially weird since everyone knows the type of reader that the mag targets. Moreover, the journalist who interviewed Lambert, Shana Naomi Krochmal, corroborates Hicklin’s story, saying that never in her life has she heard such a ridiculous request, albeit understandable if one judges it from a strictly financial point of view.
“I still wish I’d been more surprised when I was met with such a ludicrous and offensive request. I am a journalist. I ask questions. […] Is anyone confused about that? I’ve been doing this for a long time and though I’ve been generically warned in a similar fashion before – ‘let’s make it upbeat and fun!’ reps often say, or ‘just talk about the album/movie/TV show!’ – it’s never been quite so egregious or with such an obvious expectation that I would comply.” Krochmal writes. “[…] This scenario – a pop star at this level out from the get-go – is basically unprecedented. I’ve seen such striking change in even the last two or three years of how comfortable industry gatekeepers and their clients are in handling such new territory. We’re witnessing a changing of the guard, and it’s bound to overlap a bit in the middle,” she explains.
Adam, on the other hand, feels that neither he nor his camp has done anything wrong in the handling of the matter. Moreover, he feels that Hicklin made of this incident (for lack of a better term) a personal attack, which was uncalled for. “Dear Aaron, it’s def not that deep. Chill! Guess ya gotta get attention for the magazine. U too are at the mercy of the marketing machine. Until we have a meaningful conversation, perhaps you should refrain from projecting your publications’ agenda onto my career,” Adam tweeted of the controversy.