Adam Lambert says he had "no clue at all" that his racy performance during Sunday's American Music Awards would ignite such a firestorm of controversy.
"I admit, I did get carried away, but I don't see anything wrong with it," he said on CBS' The Early Show Wednesday. "I do see how people got offended and that was not my intention. My intention was just to interpret the lyrics to my song and have a good time up there."
The singer, who performed his new single "For Your Entertainment," said his sexually-charged moves — which included smooching another man and simulating oral sex — were not a part of his rehearsal and were "impromptu."
"ABC was taken a little by surprise — and that wasn't my intention," he said. "I wasn't being sneaky." Being on stage, he said, "It got the most of me."
He said that he "can understand" why parents are upset. But "honestly, it didn't cross my mind … children. It was almost 11 o'clock. It was a nighttime show. I was there in the audience full of mostly adults."
Because he has a theater background, he said he sometimes forgets that there's "a camera on. I am programmed to kind of look at who's in the live audience."
Lambert, 27, said he was "looking out in the crowd" and saw some of his favorite pop stars and thought, "'I wanna let loose!' It just kind of got the best of me."
He said though many complained, a lot of people also enjoyed his performance.
"Like Idol, I have the tendency to divide people," he said. "Apples and oranges. You either like it or you don't."
He also said that if he had been "a female pop performer doing the moves … I don't think there would have been nearly as much of an outrage."
Janet Jackson grabbed a male dancer's crotch, he noted.
"I didn't hear one peep about that…" he said, adding that people re complaining because "I am a gay male." Asked if he would do anything over, he said, "I would sing it a little bit better!"
In the future, "I will probably make more of a little bit more of an effort to stay consistent with what I do during rehearsal to what I do during the show," Lambert said. "That is something I am learning. That way, if anyone has any problems with what I am doing, that can be explored during rehearsal."
His message to fans? "This is one song, one production number…" he said. "I hope people don't put me in a box and say, 'Oh, he's nasty and he's going to be that way all the time!' It was one performance."
