NSYNC member says unaired CW pilot was axed because he’s gay

NSYNC star Lance Bass has opened up about losing out on an unnamed sitcom at the CW network after coming out as gay, which he claims was due to his sexuality.

On a recent episode of the Politickin’ Podcast, Bass said the series he was attached to was preparing to shoot its pilot in 2006 but production was halted after Bass came out publicly in a cover story for People magazine.

He said: “I had a sitcom with The CW 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.'”

The CW – which was owned by CBS and Warner Bros in 2006 – told Pink News that they had “no official comment” on Bass’ allegations. It was acquired by Nexstar in 2022.

“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.’ So, I lost everything,” Bass continued, adding that his agents dropped him as a client.

“I had to completely restart and rebrand at that moment.”

Prior to coming out, Bass had success as a member of NSYNC alongside Justin Timberlake until the group disbanded in 2002 and had already had a number of acting roles, appearing in 2001 romantic comedy On The Line and in Zoolander.

He explained that he feared coming out for many years due to the effect it could have on his career, but was forced to because he was “outed by the press” and given 24 hours to get ahead of the story before someone else did it for him.

“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. You’re dead. Everything — your career’s over. People are gonna hate you. Your church has now kicked you out. Your family hates you. Just every negative thing you could think about,” Bass said.

“They were right about that, it was definitely a career killer. But, not too long after that, I just saw a lot of success stories in entertainment and I love that… it’s actually a good thing to be yourself these days.”

Things did take a turn for the better after a while, with Bass saying he was approached later by those who initially shunned him, like casting directors who have “cast [him] in a lot of things since”.

Bass had a positive attitude to the whole situation, calling it “funny and ironic” and being adamant that he doesn’t “hold grudges”.

“I’m very understanding — I get it, business is business is business. It sucks, but I never can hold grudges.”

Bass played a wedding singer in I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry just a year after coming out, and has lent his voice to several animated TV shows such as Robot Chicken, Gravity Falls, and Kim Possible.

He also played Corny Collins in a Broadway run of Hairspray for six months and competed in My Kitchen Rules and Dancing With The Stars, as well as playing different versions of himself in Bojack Horsemen, The Rookie, and How I Met Your Father.

Just last year, Bass reunited with his NSYNC bandmates last year to record a new single titled ‘Better Place’.