Red Idol/Blue Idol

We admit we’re a little late to the party on this one, but that’s what we get for launching a blog on a holiday weekend. It’s been a slow news cycle. Not that we’re limiting ourselves to news, but what else are we going to talk about right now? Cookouts?

We were at a bbq at our friends Peter and Ben’s house when the topic of American Idol came up. Peter was playing host with us on the patio while his partner Ben puttered around in the kitchen, doing something with a loin (we all decided we like that word). Nick and his boyfriend Dan were there, sipping mojitos while we drank beer. Six gay men enjoying a sunny holiday afternoon in a tiny (but lovely) South Philly backyard. Idle chitchat soon turned to Idol talk.

Peter, Nick and Dan watch AI. Religiously. Alex and Andy do not. We did watch a few of the early seasons, but a lot of these competition-type reality shows just don’t hold our interest after two or three runs. Once you’ve seen a couple dozen tribal councils, they start to seem a little repetitive.

Still, we’d have to be shut-ins not to have heard of this Adam Lambert character. We watched an episode when we all were at Peter and Ben’s for Seder. We’ve never been to one before, but we think gay Seders are a little different. Once we realized Elijah was a no-show again, Idol was turned on. We were immediately filled in on The Gay One (not that we needed much direction to figure that part out). We’re not going to get into critiques of him or Kris Allen; we’re not fans so it’s not fair, or even relevant. We do think Kris Allen’s cuter, though. Just saying.

So The Gay One (alleged, ahem) lost. Possibly big. Last season’s finalists got 12 million votes between them, but this year viewers cast an astounding 100 million votes. The AI folks never reveal the vote breakdown, but the buzz on the internets is it’s a red state conspiracy to knock off the fag. According to one story making the rounds, 38 million of those 100 million votes were received from Arkansas, for native son Kris Allen. 38 mllion from a state of 2.8 million people. Yes, you read that right. Counting every single living, breathing human being in the state of Arkansas, each would have to vote for Kris Allen an average of more than 13.5 times to come up with 38 million votes! And that’s assuming none of them actually voted for Adam Lambert. Andy wonders if one lone, obsessive teenaged girl accounts for the bulk of it.

AT&T denies all this, but, really, what’s going on here? Allen is very active in his church and vocal about his faith. And good for him: we’re stating straight up that we don’t see Christians as the enemy; we respect everyone’s faith (or lack of) and know that Christians, even vocal, evangelical ones, are not a monolithic group when it comes to gay rights. As two gay men, our personal views on religion could fill a million blogs, so we’ll just leave it at that (for now).

Adam Lambert, though…well, he’s pretty, affected, wears more makeup than RuPaul and has been photographed kissing men. And we say, good for him, too! He’s gayer than a bejeweled brooch on a velvet smoking jacket and we love him for that alone (although he better learn from Clay Aiken’s mistakes and come out already).

Was this a case of homophobic backlash against the flamboyant Lambert? Or a rallying of the faithful around the devout Allen? Or just home-state pride taken to an absurd level?

Does it matter? Isn’t this supposed to be a talent contest?

Peter thinks it didn’t matter to Adam and Kris. He believes the warm rapport and apparent friendliness they displayed on the show was genuine. Nick says many of Lambert’s votes were probably motivated by identity politics, too. Andy thinks if Adam Lambert had been from Arkansas instead, maybe he would have won. What else is there to do in Arkansas but vote for the hometown boy on American Idol?

Alex isn’t so sure. 38 million votes from one small and vibrantly crimson state in the Bible Belt would be very interesting if it was true. No doubt many voted for Kris Allen because he was a local guy, or he shared their faith, or, one would hope, because he actually was the more talented and deserving of the two. And to be fair, voting against the other guy is fair, if it’s motivated by a general distaste for his talent or style, or even his personality. This is, after all, reality television. Hate is allowed.

But what kind of hate?

Andy would rather think it was that one teenaged girl with unlimited texts.