American Idol breakout star Adam Lambert has alleged that ABC temporarily banned him after a same-sex kiss with another musician on live TV.

Performing his debut single 'For Your Entertainment' at the 2009 American Music Awards, the star shared an "impromptu" kiss with one of the musicians in his backing band, at a time when Lambert recalled very little representation and visibility for gay men in his industry.

During an acceptance speech at the Creative Coalition Spotlight Initiative gala dinner with Entertainment Weekly last weekend, Lambert recalled: "I did the kind of performance I had seen since I was a teenager.

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Related: Queen's Adam Lambert wants to play George Michael in a biopic

"I was kind of sexy, and had dancers on stage. I did a couple of suggestive moves with a couple of dancers."

Lambert continued: "Well, I got off stage and I got in trouble.

"The network was like, 'How dare you?' They banned me for a while. They threatened me with a lawsuit," he alleged.

"It was like, 'Oh, OK, that's where we're at.' I didn't know. I'd been in a bubble in LA amongst artists, weirdos, and I didn't realise that kind of thing would ruffle feathers the way it did."

Digital Spy has reached out to ABC for comment.

adam lambert 2009 american music awards kiss
Kevork Djansezian//Getty Images

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At the gala, Lambert spoke of his ambitions to "affect change" for the LGBTQ+ community within the music industry and beyond.

"So, that's what I did," he told the gala dinner crowd. "I was like, 'Well, fine. I'm going to lean in and I'm going to be as gay as I f**king can be, and be flamboyant, and be wild. And if it gets me into trouble, it gets me into trouble, but I'm not going to back down from it."

Lambert also added that his drive to make a difference went on to empower young LGBTQ+ people.

"Over the past few years, I keep meeting more and more young people that saw me when they were a kid on TV," he revealed.

"They're like, 'Oh, you know what? You helped me talk to my parents about being gay. You made me feel like it was OK to be who I was' – and I'm not the only one that did that for young people."

American Idol airs on ABC.

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Dan Seddon

Reporter, Digital Spy 

Dan is a freelance entertainment journalist. Beginning his writing career in 2014, Dan's work first graced the pages of cult publications Starburst magazine and Little White Lies before moving onto Total Film, Digital Spy, NME and Yahoo Entertainment

In the film and TV universe, he kneels at the altar of Jim Carrey, Daniel Plainview, Mike Ehrmantraut and Paulie Walnuts.