*NYSNC‘s Lance Bass has claimed that a TV sitcom he was cast in was cancelled after he came out as gay.
The singer and actor opened up about his time in the entertainment industry as part of a new interview, and discussed how a pilot episode for a series was abruptly halted in 2006 – roughly the same time that he shared his sexuality.
“I had a sitcom with The CW [broadcasting company] at the time, and we were about to shoot the pilot and this came out and they were like, ‘We can’t do the show anymore. Like, they have to believe that you’re straight to play a straight character,’” Bass shared on a new episode of the Politickin’ podcast (via Variety).
“Every casting director I knew, they’re like, ‘Lance, we can’t cast you because they can’t look past… You’re too famous for being gay now that they can’t look at you as anything other than that,’” he added. “So, I lost everything.”
“It was a crazy scary situation because all the examples I’ve ever had of anyone coming out, especially in entertainment, was that it’s a career killer,” he continued.
Bass opened up about his sexuality in 2006 as part of a cover feature for People Magazine. It was around this time that The CW had launched, shortly after the merging of networks The WB and UPN.
He was a part of the iconic boy band for just under a decade – joining in 1995 and releasing music and touring with them up until 2002. Variety highlights that his first acting role was in 2001, when he landed a spot on the 2001 romantic comedy On The Line.
While he added in the interview that he found it harder to find work after coming out as gay, the former *NYSNC singer has gone on to take on some memorable roles in recent years. Back in 2008 he appeared as a contestant in the seventh season of Dancing With The Stars, and also joined the Broadway production of Hairspray, taking on the role of Corny Collins.
He joined forces with the rest of his *NYSNC bandmates last year when they reunited and dropped the new track ‘Better Place’. Earlier this year, they performed live for the first time in over 10 years while at Justin Timberlake’s show in Los Angeles.
Taking to the stage at the Wiltern Theater, Bass, along with Chris Kirkpatrick, Joey Fatone and J.C. Chasez joined Timberlake to break out the live debut of their new song, ‘Paradise’. They also treated the crowd to three of their most famous hits: ‘Bye Bye Bye’, ‘Girlfriend’ and ‘It’s Gonna Be Me’.
