Adam Lambert addressed his Theo James comments while at Sundance over the weekend (Picture: Twitter/Variety/Getty)
Adam Lambert made headlines earlier this week after he appeared to criticise Theo James’ rumoured casting as gay icon George Michael.
The hit-maker has now clarified his comments after many people disagreed with his sentiment.
On Wednesday, Lambert wrote on social media in response to a side-by-side photo of James and Michael: ‘Yay another straight man playing a gay icon.’
The image was posted by LGBTQ+ outlet The Advocate and captioned: ‘White Lotus star Theo James eyeing gay role in George Michael biopic.’
Speaking at Sundance on Saturday, where he’s promoting Fairyland starring Scoot McNairy as Steve, a gay dad living in 1970s San Francisco, Lambert was asked about his comments.
‘Adam, you recently had some choice words about straight actors playing gay people with regards to Theo James potentially tackling George Michael. Explain,’ said a Variety reporter.
It was during an appearance on Watch What Happens Live With Andy that James expressed interest in playing Michael (Picture: Jacopo Raule/Getty Images)
Lambert wrote of James’ rumoured casting as Michael: ‘Yay another straight man playing a gay icon’ (Picture: Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
In response, Lambert noted it would be ‘ridiculous’ to suggest only gay actors can play gay roles but did point to a lack of equal casting opportunities within the industry.
‘My actual comment – my little sarcastic comment on it – was [about] a straight actor playing a gay icon, which I think is a bit different,’ Lambert began.
‘I by no means think gay characters should only be played by gay actors. I think that would be ridiculous.
‘Case in point: Scott’s brilliant performance in this film, which is incredibly moving and soulful. I don’t imagine anyone else playing this part.’
The If I Had You singer continued: ‘I just think, as a queer person, so many doors have been closed to us for so long, it’s a big step forward that these stories are at least now being told, but I hope that in the future you would also see an out actor be able to tackle a leading role.
The response to Lambert’s initial remark about the news was mixed (Picture: Andy Kropa/Invision/AP)
Michael died on Christmas Day in 2016 in his Oxfordshire home at the age of 53 (Picture: Rosenlund/Shutterstock)
‘You haven’t really seen that very often.’
Lambert added: ‘To the naysayers who are like, “oh, it’s acting, what about the other way around, are you saying that gay actors should only play gay actors?”
‘You look at Kristen Stewart playing Diana, and that was a brilliant performance as well [but] we don’t have that many examples of queer people playing non-queer icons.
‘I just want some equal opportunity that’s all.’
It was during an appearance on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen last week that 38-year-old James expressed interest in playing Michael.
When asked about the role, James replied: ‘I would love that. He’s a lot of Greek, and I’m a lot of Greek. Put that Greek together, and you get falafel.’
The response to Lambert’s initial remark about the news was mixed, with one person replying: ‘Literally so infuriating’ while another social media user echoed: ‘I thought the same thing!’
However, others disagreed with Lambert’s sentiment, with one Instagrammer saying: ‘That’s why it’s called acting, Adam. He might not be gay, but he is British and Greek as George was.’‘Whilst I agree to an extent there’s plenty of gay actors portraying straight characters. I suppose it’s called acting,’ wrote someone else.
Following James’ appearance on Watch What Happens Live, MailOnline reported that the star was ‘tipped’ to play Michael in an £85million biopic which it claimed is in the ‘final stages of development’.
What’s more, it was suggested that Michael’s estate was onboard with the film, however his family quickly denied those rumours, saying in a statement: ‘To all of George’s Lovelies, fans and lovers of his music, a story has been published stating that George Michael’s family has endorsed a so called “biopic” about his life.
‘On behalf of George’s family and GME we want to make it clear that there is no truth whatsoever in this story, we know nothing about this project and will not be endorsing it in any way.’
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Michael died on Christmas Day in 2016 in his Oxfordshire home at the age of 53.
Metro.co.uk has reached out to James’ reps.
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Lambert’s clearing things up.
