February 3, 2012 | Online

Yahoo! removes hateful comments about Lambert

One thing you will notice after reading the comments section of many online news and pop culture sites is that there are a lot of stupid, insensitive and downright hateful people out there. And often, as with a recent Yahoo! News article on Adam Lambert and his new CD, the comments can be extremely homophobic.

Following the piece, several people decided to share their not-so-nice opinions. The most disturbing comment: "It would make my day if someone was to do to him what those men did to Matthew Shepard."

The company's Terms of Service state that it “does not allow content that promotes hatred against users or groups of users. Protected categories include, but are not limited to race, ethnicity, age, gender, disability, sexual orientation, and gender identity."

GLAAD was advised of the comments and demanded Yahoo! do something about them. Yahoo! suspended all commenting on the article and removed several of the offensive posts.

"Young music fans should be able to interact and comment on sites without seeing violent, hateful comments directed at LGBT people," said GLAAD's Director of Digital Initiatives, Allison Palmer. "Yahoo! did the right thing by taking immediate action to enforce their Terms of Service, setting an important example for other leading websites and tech companies."

Of course, it is always easy to say nasty things when you can hide behind a screen name. 

Yahoo! Teams with GLAAD to Remove Anti-LGBT Comments from Adam Lambert Interview [Hollywood Reporter]

GLAAD: Yahoo! removes violent anti-gay comments from Adam Lambert interview [Miami Herald]