AceShowbiz - Adam Lambert opened up how his same-sex kiss at the 2009 American Music Awards almost ended with a lawsuit. The "American Idol" alum recalled facing homophobia in the early days of his career during his acceptance speech at the 2023 Creative Coalition Spotlight Initiative Gala on Saturday, January 21.

"I did the kind of performance I'd seen since I was a teenager," Adam shared. "I was like, I want to be sexy and have dancers on stage, and I did a couple of suggestive moves with some of my dancers and an impromptu kiss with my bass player. I was feeling it."

The "Whataya Want from Me" singer, who was being honored for his role in the Sundance Film Festival drama "Fairyland", went on to say that he immediately got "in a lot of trouble" with ABC following the gimmick. "The network was like, 'How dare you?' They banned me for a while. They threatened me with a lawsuit," he recalled. "I was like, 'Oh, OK, that's where we're at.' "

The Queen + Adam Lambert lead vocalist went on saying, "I didn't know. I lived in a bubble in L.A. amongst artists and weirdos, and I didn't realize that kind of thing ruffled feathers the way it did."

The 40-year-old added that the criticism made him realize that he was "part of something new" that could help "effect change," so he decided to "be as gay as I f***ing can be" regardless the consequences. "If it gets me into trouble, it gets me in trouble, but I'm not going to back down from it," the singer said.

Despite the negative experience, Adam noted that being a visibly queer performer helped him connect with fans even better. "Over the past few years, I keep meeting more and more young people that saw me when we were a kid on TV and they're like... 'You helped me talk to my parents about being gay,' " he said.