In an exclusive interview with Out Magazine, The Voice coach, Adam Levine. talks about his childhood, raised by liberal parents. His younger brother is gay, which Adam says, “I can single-handedly dispel any ideas that sexuality is acquired, ” he says. “Trust me, you’re born with it. My brother is gay, and we knew when he was two. We all knew.”
He also takes a swipe at American Idol for presumably keeping their gay contestants in the closet. The Voice had 4 openly gay contestants, two of whom — Beverly McClellan and Vicci Martinez — made it all the way to the finale
“I can’t f*** with American Idol, ” Levine says. “It’s a cultural institution. On The Voice, we just care about a different list of things. It’s for a different type of person, I guess.”
“What’s always pissed me off about Idol is wanting to mask that, for that to go unspoken. C’mon. You can’t be publicly gay? At this point? On a singing competition? Give me a break. You can’t hide basic components of these people’s lives. The fact that The Voice didn’t have any qualms about being completely open about it is a great thing.”
He acknowledges that the music industry may still have a double standard for gay artists but says The Voice can help correct that. “It’s a great show because it doesn’t alienate anybody. If you’re a talented person, and you want a career, and you’re trying to join an extremely intimidating and also completely dismantled industry — skip all that other bull, and go for what can be immediately effective.”
One could assume that Levine is talking about Adam Lambert, who told Out Magazine In 2009, that after photos of him kissing a guy surfaced on the net, he talked it over with a FOX publicist, and they decided jointly, not to address it. “I’m glad that I handled it that way, because I think that had I immediately said the words and labeled myself — you know, said ‘I am gay’ — I think that it would’ve been more about that, initially, than anything else. And the fact that we didn’t come out and make a big announcement or anything like that — that doesn’t make any sense to me anyway. It’s not an announcement. It’s just, it’s part of who I am.”
But later, in a VH1 Behind the Music Special Adam indicates that it wasn’t that easy to address the subject, “It was hard for me because I wasn’t able to talk. Technically, being on ‘Idol, ‘ you can’t do any interviews individually until you’re out of the show, ” he said. “So I was sitting there, going, I can’t really put in my two cents. It felt out of control, and feeling out of control is scary.”
It will be interesting to see how American Idol handles openly gay contestants going forward. The Voice handled the situation very well–making the contestants’ sexuality a part of their backstory without sensationalizing it. Maybe Idol will sing a different tune going forward.
Speaking of openly gay characters: You know the hit show Glee has a few of those, and Levine mentioned how happy he was that the Dalton Warblers sang his song “Misery”. “It was just a cool moment, ” says Levine, “and I love Ryan [Murphy]. I’m glad he used the tune.”
