Lambert: AMA performance ‘wasn’t the best first impression’

BURBANK, Calif. — In the wake of his controversial performance last week at the American Music Awards, Adam Lambert told Ellen DeGeneres on her show that his antics didn’t leave “the best first impression.”

“I suppose part of what I got caught up in that I forgot this was the first time people were seeing me on TV again after [American] Idol,” he was quoted as saying on the show by USA Today. “I didn’t really think about that as objectively as I might of wanted to.”

In an exchange between the show host and her guest, Ellen reportedly noted that “a lot of people didn’t like” Lambert’s man-on-man kiss during the prime-time performance. She then asks Lambert if things went “too far” on stage.

“I think in hindsight I look back on it and I go, ‘OK, maybe that wasn’t the best first impression to make again, the first second impression,’” he said. “I mean I had fun up there, I had a good time, my dancers had fun and the band had fun.”

Lambert noted that he’s been resistant to his father’s suggestion that he apologize.

“I don’t know,” he said. “I was like, ‘Ya know Dad, I don’t feel like I did anything wrong. It just wasn’t maybe the right judgment call. It’s a taste thing more than an obscenity thing. I think it’s just a taste level.’”