Label didn’t want Lambert to be ‘too gay’ in Out

Courtney Hazlett The Scoop

Adam Lambert appears on the cover of Out magazine alongside Wanda Sykes, Cyndi Lauper, Lt. Dan Choi and Rob Marshall as part of the Out 100 Class of 2009. Lambert's accompanying interview is a frank one: Among the subjects, his oft-talked about sexuality and how he and Fox strategized his “American Idol” appearances after photos of him in various stages of makeout with other men appeared on the Internet.

What’s most interesting is the editor’s letter in Out. Editor-in-Chief Aaron Hicklin writes that although Lambert lost to Kris Allen, Lambert was “the real winner for those of us who saw your success as a test of America’s growing tolerance … it’s unfortunate, therefore, that your record label and management don’t share the same view.”

Hicklin goes on to say that Lambert’s label turned down earlier requests to feature him on the cover because they feared it would impact record sales, and that for the Out 100 shoot, “it’s only because this cover is a group shot that includes a straight woman that your team would allow you to be photographed at all — albeit with the caveat that we must avoid making you look ‘too gay.’ ”

Hicklin’s message seems to be a larger one: that it’s odd that the magazine has an easier time getting the likes of Pete Wentz to appear on the cover. “Getting straight men and women to do Out is easy these days. It gives them cred,” Hicklin wrote. “The irony is that right now it would be easier to get Kris Allen to do a solo cover shoot for us. But only because he’s straight.”

Lambert’s label, 19 Entertainment, “has no comment” about Hicklin’s letter. 

Clint Eastwood, GQ badass of the year

Movie trailer   ‘Invictus’: Dec. 11 In this Clint Eastwood-directed film Morgan Freeman stars as Nelson Mandela in the post-apartheid age when he campaigned to host the 1995 Rugby World Cup. Matt Damon co-stars.

Clint Eastwood’s new film “Invictus,” won’t be released until Dec. 11, but it’s already getting early Oscar buzz. The film, directed and produced by Eastwood, is about Nelson Mandela’s release from prison, his election as President of South Africa and using the mostly white South African rugby team and the 1995 Rugby World Cup to help usher the country out of apartheid.

Eastwood, who is GQ’s “badass of the year,” told the magazine, “The world needs this kind of story nowadays. It's just ... everybody's so screwed up. It seems like our country's in kind of a morbid mood, because of the recession or whatever.”

Eastwood had more pointed words for the post-World War II generation. He said he felt America was “becoming more juvenile as a nation. The guys who won World War II and that whole generation have disappeared, and now we have a bunch of teenage twits.”

A-Rod gets Kate a ring
No, not that kind of ring. But Yankee Alex Rodriguez did get his girl, Kate Hudson, a ring nonetheless. Days after A-Rod and the New York Yankees became champions, he gave Hudson a $39,000 white-gold ring set with pink sapphires and diamonds from Louis Vuitton, according to In Touch Weekly. The mag reports that the Les Luxuriantes was his way of thanking Hudson for her support during the series.

According to an insider: “He has a World Series ring, and now she does, too. It’s a beautiful piece of jewelry and very unusual — just like Kate herself. He clearly knows her style and has great taste.” The insider said it definitely wasn’t an engagement ring, but Kate was still thrilled nevertheless: “She, of course, thought it was such a romantic gesture.”

Courtney Hazlett delivers the Scoop Monday through Friday on msnbc.com. Follow Scoop on Twitter @courtneyatmsnbc

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