Nigel Lythgoe responds to Adam Levine on American Idol and Gays

In an interview with EW, Nigel Lythgoe responds to Adam Levine's criticism of American Idol regarding gay contestants. He also openly campaigns for Emmy Awards, and confirms that So You Think You Can Dance has not been renewed yet.

I like a good verbal war between shows, but this is not as simple as Nigel presents it to be.

Nigel has a bad track record when it comes to gays on the programs he is running. On the first season of So You Think You Can Dance, he openly criticized a contestant for "not looking masculine". A couple of years later, he followed that up with critiquing a same sex couple audition (obviously allowing it to be aired to show how ridiculous it is). And of course, he's always encouraged the "gay jokes" between Ryan Seacrest and Simon Cowell on American Idol. There is a long list against Nigel. To me, his actions speak louder over the years than his answers in this interview.

From EW:

You probably saw NBC’s The Voice judge Adam Levine saying Idol should show openly gay contestants. What do you think of that and could that change next season?

To be frank, I didn’t understand why we’re talking about contestants being gay or not gay. I don’t go into my dentist and say, “Are you gay?” I don’t say to contestants on So You Think You Can Dance, “Are you gay?” What does it got to do with me? What does it got to do with anybody? When does privacy stop in this country? If somebody wants to say they’re gay, it’s up to them. You don’t expect us to turn around and say, “Are you gay?” Why would we do that? — “By the way, he’s a Catholic and he supports Obama and here’s his sexuality” — what does that have anything to do with singing talent? Maybe it does for Adam Levine, but not for me.

So the reason nobody has been openly gay on Idol is that it’s up to the contestant.

Did [season eight Idol contestant] Adam Lambert come out?

Afterwards, I believe so.

He must have come out before being on Idol, he just didn’t talk about it on Idol. And why should he? Is every actor going on television going to say, “I’m only playing the part of a straight man, I’m really gay”? There’s no reason that I would see why anybody that goes on television should start coming out with who they are, what they are, what they’re sexuality is, who they’re going to vote for or what their religion is.

On So You Think You Can Dance, Cat landed an Emmy nomination and it’s up for competition series as well.

I would prefer, and I apologize for my entire [Dance] team for saying this, I would prefer American Idol to win an Emmy. And I would also like very much for Cat to reciprocate by winning [as best host], and if she doesn’t, then Ryan Seacrest. It’s sad when you’re up against yourself; it’s, “Which one of your children gets the last sweet.”

Dance hasn’t been officially renewed, but my sense is that it’s coming back?

I hope so. You’re right, it’s not official. But I’m told it’s imminent. I certainly like a lot of the stuff we did this year. I enjoyed quite a few of the guest judges, and enjoyed a talented season of dancers.

For more visit EW