American Music Awards Held
The 2009 American Music Awards were broadcast live on ABC on Sunday night. Among the star-studded performances were those by Whitney Houston, Alicia Keys and Jay-Z, Lady Gaga, Jennifer Lopez, Carrie Underwood, and Janet Jackson. Michael Jackson was posthumously honored with four awards. Country music star Taylor Swift also received four awards, including “artist of the year.” The network received a reported 1,500 complaints regarding American Idol runner-up Adam Lambert’s performance, which featured sexually explicit themes. Lambert later told “Rolling Stone” he was trying to promote “artistic freedom.” Lambert’s act is being both celebrate and condemned in the news (the “Los Angeles Times called it “ultra lewd”) and is garnering him a healthy does of publicity as his new album drops in stores this week. ABC enjoyed the highest ratings of its annual broadcast of the AMA’s (which target teens and young adults) since 2002.
Michael Jackson’s Famous White Glove Sold
The famous white glove Michael Jackson wore for his infamous Motown 25 performance where he introduced the world to the moonwalk, sold at auction this weekend in New York for $350,000. Hong Kong businessman Hoffman Ma won what auction house CEO Darren Julien deemed “the Holy Grail of Michael Jackson.” Ma, who called the price “a fairly good discount,” bid for the prize on behalf of the Macau hotel Ponte 16.
