Lance Bass Opens Up About How Coming Out in 2006 Halted His CW Sitcom and Career Prospects

Lance Bass is best known as the bass singer of the famous boy band NSYNC. After the band’s success, he tried acting and film production, starring in the 2001 movie On the Line. In 2006, he came out as gay in an interview with People magazine, saying he felt happy and free, not ashamed.

Although many fans supported him, some in the LGBT community were upset by his comment about being “straight-acting,” as it reinforced stereotypes, and Bass later apologized for not understanding the impact of his words.

Coming out put Lance Bass in the spotlight for both good and bad reasons. He recently shared on the Politickin’ podcast that after coming out in 2006, a pilot he was about to shoot for The CW was canceled because the network thought viewers wouldn’t accept him as a straight character.

He explained that casting directors had trouble seeing him as anything other than gay, which caused him to lose career opportunities.

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 he saw many examples of public figures’ careers ending after coming out. “It was a crazy, scary situation,” he said.

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 adapted and found success in other areas. He joined “Dancing With the Stars” in 2008 and later performed on Broadway as Corny Collins in “Hairspray” for six months.

Bass also stayed active in the entertainment world by focusing on producing and talent management with his company, Lance Bass Productions. He eventually rejoined NSYNC, and in 2022, the group released their first new single in years, “Better Place,” while he continued pursuing other entertainment projects.