Adam Levine Slams American Idol Treatment of Gay Contestants

Maroon 5 singer and The Voice coach Adam Levine poses topless for the new issue of gay magazine Out, while taking shots at a rival singing competition.
Levine, whose brother is gay, takes American Idol to task for making its contestants allegedly "mask" their sexuality, as Adam Lambert recently claimed.
Runner-up Lambert said he wasn't allowed to discuss his sexuality on the show due to AI's restriction on contestants giving interviews during the season.

"What’s always pi**ed me off about American Idol is wanting to mask it, for it to go unspoken,” says Levine. “C’mon. You can’t be publicly gay? At this point?"
"On a singing competition? Give me a break. You can’t hide basic components of these people’s lives," he adds. "To me, the fact that The Voice didn’t have any qualms about being completely about it is a great thing.”
Ironically, on The Voice this spring, Levine was briefly criticized for a perceived slam of Lambert, whose hit song he claimed he had never heard of.
In any case, two of the final eight contestants, Vicci Martinez and Beverly McClellan, were "out" lesbians on the first season of Adam's reality show.
In the interview, the 32-year-old singer also opens up about his gay brother, telling the magazine that above all else, "We all really wanted to provide some cushion for him and constantly let him know that it’s OK."
"A lot of people don’t want their kid to be gay and will fight it all costs," Levine laments. "But I’ve got news for you - it’s a losing f**king battle.”