Lance Bass Reveals How Coming Out as Gay in 2006 Halted His CW Sitcom Pilot and Career Opportunities

Lance Bass is likely best known as the bass singer of the popular boy band NSYNC. After NSYNC’s success, he pursued acting and film production, starring in the 2001 movie ‘On the Line.’

Lance Bass came out as gay in a 2006 interview with ‘People’ magazine after speculation and paparazzi photos sparked public interest in his sexuality. He expressed that he was happy and liberated, not ashamed of being gay.

While he received strong support from fans, his comment about being “straight-acting” upset some members of the LGBT community, as it reinforced stereotypes. Bass later apologized, admitting he didn’t understand the negative impact of his words, and acknowledged that the LGBT community can be sensitive to such issues.

The fact that he came out put him in the spotlight for both positive and negative reasons, the singer-turned-actor also recently revealed that it halted some of the opportunities he had prior to coming out.

Bass recently sat down on Politickin’ podcast and shared that after coming out as gay in 2006, a pilot he was set to shoot for The CW was canceled because the network believed audiences wouldn’t accept him playing a straight character. He explained that casting directors struggled to see him as anything other than gay, which led to lost opportunities and setbacks in his career.

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.

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 also admitted that all the examples of public personalities coming out were stories of their careers being killed after the fact “It was a crazy scary situation “he admitted.

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.

Despite these challenges, Bass pivoted and found success in other areas. He became a contestant on “Dancing With the Stars” in 2008 and later performed on Broadway, starring as Corny Collins in the musical ‘Hairspray’ for a six-month run.

He also remained active in the entertainment industry by focusing on producing and managing talent through his production companies, including Lance Bass Productions. Bass eventually reconnected with NSYNC, the group that originally made him famous, and in 2022, they released their first new single in years, “Better Place.” While his acting career took a backseat, he continued to stay involved in entertainment through other ventures.

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