Lance Bass got fired from a TV show after coming out: “They have to believe that you’re straight”
Lance Bass was forced to say “bye, bye, bye” to a television gig.While the former *NSYNC member blazed a path by coming out at a time when so few pop stars dared to live authentically, it didn’t come without a cost to his career.Bass first revealed his truth to the public in a now-iconic August 2006 cover of People magazine.Subscribe to our newsletter for a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.Bye, bye, bye, body fat.In a new interview, the 45-year-old reflected on the groundbreaking moment, while also disclosing the industry pushback he received despite being embraced by his legions of boyband fans.“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 recalled on Politickin’ podcast. “The career definitely changed, and they were right about that.
Like, it was definitely a career killer.”With *NSYNC on an indefinite hiatus since 2002, Bass had turned to acting in the film On the Line, the TV series 7th Heaven, and various voice roles in animated programs.Feeling the joy of finally getting to be fully himself after coming out, Bass was all set to star in a new sitcom when he had the rug pulled out from under his feet.“I had a sitcom, you know, with The CW at the time, and we were about to shoot the pilot and this came out [People magazine] 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,’” he recounted. While today queer actors like Colman Domingo, Jonathan Bailey, and Matt Bomer can go back and forth from playing gay and straight roles, that was not the case 18 years ago.“And 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 said. “You know,.
