Celebs Who Can't Stand Adam Lambert
Adam Lambert is by far one of the most successful American Idol alums in the show's history. Although he didn't win his season (he came in second to Kris Allen on Season 8), he still managed to snag a recording contract, then became Queen's new frontman and, eventually, built up an estimated net worth of $30 million (via Celebrity Net Worth).
As American Idol creator Simon Fuller told Rolling Stone back in 2009, Adam Lambert's talent was undeniable from the get-go. "He's like Marc Bolan meets Bowie, with a touch of Freddie Mercury and the sexiness of Prince," he enthused. When Lambert joined Queen in 2011, he received similar praise from Brian May who told Yahoo!, "Adam has a real gift from God. That voice is a voice in a billion, and nobody has that range, nobody that I've ever worked with."
Not everyone has been so flattering, however. Here are the celebrities who are simply not impressed by the "For Your Entertainment" singer.
Adam Levine threw some next-level shade on 'The Voice'
In 2011, Adam Levine shaded Adam Lambert in a way that would have made Mariah Carey (the creator of the "I don't know her" diss a.k.a. "pop's shadiest power move") proud. It was during The Voice semifinals, after contestant Nakia performed Lambert's hit single "Whataya Want From Me," that the Maroon 5 frontman admitted, "I'm actually not familiar with that song, but you just forced me to like it." He added, "You probably sang it better than the person that sang it originally."
While Lambert's fans were outraged, the Idol alum took the comment in stride, tweeting about Nakia's "great performance" and quipping, "I think Adam might know who I am after this next album. Get ready for me Levine. Hahah." He also made sure to let everyone know he's "def a Maroon 5 fan" before telling fans, "there is NO reason to be angry. Thanks for being protective but it's all good," he concluded. As for Levine, he took to Twitter to say #SorryNotSorry, writing, "I had honestly never heard that song before. I thought that @nakia made me like a song that would have otherwise fallen flat. I'm NOT sorry."
Revisiting the shade on a 2017 episode of Watch What Happens Live, Lambert told Andy Cohen the comment was actually "high shade. I was like, 'Ow, Adam!'" he said before throwing in his own jab: "Our initials are the same. People call me Adam Levine all the time."
Gene Simmons has a love-hate relationship with him
Finale night is when producers pull out all the stops on American Idol, and for Adam Lambert, that meant performing with Kiss. "I was so excited," he told Rolling Stone of the experience, joking, "I was like, 'I'm going to glue rhinestones on my eyelids, b****!'" The praise was mutual, as Gene Simmons told Extra that Lambert was "fantastic" and could "come on tour [with Kiss] anytime he likes." That changed just a few weeks later, however, following Lambert's public coming out in the aforementioned 2009 Rolling Stone cover story. Simmons told AOL Television (via Access Hollywood) that Lambert was the "best talent American Idol has had, but I think he killed his career because now conversation is not about his talent but about his sexual preference."
"He's done," Simmons proclaimed, explaining, "You're forcing people to deal with issues they may not be interested in." After wishing Lambert "the best," he concluded, "Do I think he's killed his career? Oh, in an instant." The legendary rocker did try to end on a complimentary note, however, saying, "I hope I'm completely wrong."
In 2017, Lambert was asked about Simmons' comments on Watch What Happens Live and didn't have any qualms about shading the Kiss star. "He kind of reminds me of, like, Donald Trump's track record. You know, it's like, one minute this, one minute that, like, contradicting," he slammed, saying sarcastically, "He's really friendly."
Clay Aiken was full-blown 'bitter'
In 2009, Season 2 runner-up Clay Aiken didn't mince words about his Season 8 counterpart when a fan on his paid fansite asked, "What did you think about the [finale]?" Writing that he "couldn't be happier about the way [American Idol] ended this year," Aiken went after Lambert, slamming (via Gawker), "I happened to turn it during the minute that Adam Lambert was singing 'Ring of Fire' and, at that moment, thought my ears would bleed." And he didn't stop there. Aiken went on to call the performance "contrived, awful, and slightly frightening," proclaiming, "I wasn't really a fan and found myself surprised whenever folks told me that they liked him." Admitting that he hadn't actually seen any of Lambert's other performances on the show, he added, "Just not my cup of tea at all."
Queerty called the Idol alum "bitter," and following a slew of negative feedback, Aiken penned a second blog post in which he issued a non-apology, writing (via Pride), "I suppose I should clarify and even retract some of what I wrote. I am sure that some were upset by my choice of words describing my opinion of a performance I heard from Adam Lambert," he told fans, continuing, "I hope no one actually believed that blood truly poured forth from my ears when I heard him. I obviously meant it as a colorful statement to imply that I did not enjoy what I heard." Obviously.