ROB HALFORD Comes Face To Face With ADAM LAMBERT At 'Gay & Lesbian' Awards

April 17, 2010

JUDAS PRIEST frontman Rob Halford made a "special appearance" earlier tonight (Saturday, April 17) at the Los Angeles presentation of the 21st annual Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) Media Awards at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza. Also attending the event was "American Idol" finalist Adam Lambert, who acted as one of evening's performers and nominees for the "Outstanding Music Artist" award.

Check out photos from Wire Image.

The GLAAD Media Awards recognize and honor media for their fair, accurate and inclusive representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and the issues that affect their lives.

Hosts for the Los Angeles GLAAD Media Awards (which also took place in New York on March 13 and is scheduled to be held in San Francisco on June 5) were actress Candis Cayne and actor Wilson Cruz ("He's Just Not That Into You"),with Tom Ford and Benjamin Bratt among the other guests and presenters.

The list of 116 film, television and music nominees in 24 English-language categories and 36 Spanish-language nominees in eight categories can be viewed at glaad.org/mediaawards.

In an August 2008 interview with The Dallas Morning News, Halford — who revealed he was homosexual during a 1998 appearance on MTV — explained why he believes that he's the only man capable of fronting JUDAS PRIEST.

"To be brutally honest, 'Jugulator' and 'Demolition' [the two PRIEST albums made with Tim 'Ripper' Owens as frontman] were affected by my not being in the band, much like when Bruce Dickinson went away from IRON MAIDEN, the way VAN HALEN [was] affected when David Lee Roth left," Rob was quoted as saying. "But I don't think a straight man can do my job in JUDAS PRIEST. I've never said that before. I'm sorry, but they can't."

In a subsequent interview, Halford attempted to clarify his remarks, stating, "I was talking about the performance in terms of what a frontman can do . . . I just think there's different interpretations of what you do, and that was just like a broad-based comment that can be taken however it wishes to be taken."

He added, "When you're doing an interview and you have, like, hundreds or thousands of words and, like, three or four words are taken out of context...

"I think [my quote in The Dallas Morning News] was taken out of context."

When asked in a December 2009 interview with the Dallas Voice if he has a particularly gay audience, Halford said, "I have my gay metalhead fans all over the world. Sometimes they are so obvious from stage but it's still a wonderful surprise."

Regarding how it has been since he came out more than 10 years ago, Halford said, "It gives me a lot of comfort and it was a weight off my shoulders. There is a lot of phobia in metal music, but me coming out chips away at that wall, bit by bit. It just crossed my mind that I had no negative feedback. Fans were cool, and that speaks volumes for the better world we're in. We have come forward by leaps and bounds."

Check out photos from Wire Image.

Find more on
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • reddit
  • email

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).