In a recent interview with AOL Television to promote the return of his A&E reality show “Gene Simmons Family Jewels,” Gene said Adam’s decision to come out has effectively stopped the handsome 20-something’s career in its tracks.

“He’s enormously talented, best talent ‘American Idol’ has had, but I think he killed his career because now conversation is not about his talent but about his sexual preference,” Gene said.

Shortly after “Idol” wrapped up, Adam came out in a cover story for Rolling Stone magazine — although, by his own admission, Adam joked he was “never really in” the closet. But Gene believes some people won’t be able to get past Adam’s revelation about his sexual preference.

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Winner Kris Allen and runner-up Adam Lambert both signed with 19 Recordings last week, with pop-oriented Jive Records picking up the rights to Allen’s debut and rock-leaning RCA Records landing rights to Lambert’s album. In a structured rollout, 19 announced that it signed fourth-place finisher Allison Iraheta, who also will release her debut through Jive, before revealing a deal, if any, for third-place finisher Danny Gokey.

So does the industry think “Idol” got it wrong? Lambert did win the sweepstakes to land the cover of Rolling Stone — something several of the “Idol” winners, including last year’s winner David Cook, have yet to accomplish — ahead of Allen. (Lambert also graced the cover of Entertainment Weekly this season.)

However, on the Billboard charts, Allen is king, with three songs — “No Boundaries” at No. 23, his version of Kanye West’s “Heartless” at No. 33, and “Ain’t No Sunshine” at No. 94 — ahead of Lambert’s two singles “Mad World” (No. 44) and “No Boundaries” (No. 95).

Lambert, 27, recently disclosed his sexuality in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine.

While other celebrities have disclosed their homosexuality after becoming popular, Lambert is one of the first to do so just as he is beginning his life as a rock star.

“There is something very contemporary about it — the fact that he is speaking openly about his sexuality, defusing it at a very early point in his career, making his calculation that he is going to be able to be a big success,” Tavia Nyong’o, a professor of performance studies at New York University who studies race and sexuality in the arts, told the Globe. “He’s doing something very new and uncharted in pop culture.”

Freya Jarman-Ivens, a lecturer in music at the University of Liverpool and the editor of “Oh Boy! Masculinities and Popular Music,” noted gay pop stars such as Elton John, Clay Aiken and George Michael generally behave differently on stage than traditional rock stars do.

“They’re never alpha-male types,” Jarman-Ivens told the newspaper. “I think it’s because they’re calling to a young female audience. They have to walk a fine line culturally speaking, between being very attractive to the female audience and not being threatening.”

“There’s always been something very interesting and sexy about a man who can rock eyeliner and heels and is also a brilliantly talented artist,” added Rosie Lopez, vice president of Tommy Boy Records
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Allen won the singing competition last week.

News reports say fans of runner-up Adam Lambert have complained in online forums that AT&T participated in two “AI” viewing parties in Allen’s native Arkansas and showed people how to power text, that is, send 10 or more text messages by pressing a single button.

The phone company did not, however, offer such services to Lambert’s followers, critics complained.

“In Arkansas, we were invited to attend the local watch parties organized by the community,” an AT&T spokesman said in a statement issued to The Times.

“A few local employees brought a small number of demo phones with them and provided texting tutorials to those who were interested.”

The newspaper said officials of Fox Broadcasting, which airs the show, declined to discuss the matter.