Lance Bass is opening up about the impact of coming out on his career.
Bass said he lost major opportunities because he was “too famous for being gay.”
The former NSYNC boyband member made an appearance on the Politickin’ podcast with Gov. Gavin Newsom, Marshawn Lynch and Doug Hendrickson.
Bass told the trio that he was cast in a CW sitcom but the project was cancelled when he came out as gay in a People magazine cover story in 2006.
“We were about to shoot the pilot and this came out and they were like, ‘We can’t do the show anymore.’ They believe that you’re straight to play a straight character,” he said.
He continued: “I don’t know what we can do with you now. 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.’”
“I had to completely just restart and rebrand at that moment,” Bass added
*NSYNC was founded in 1995 and included members Justin Timberlake, Chris Kirkpatrick, JC Chasez and Joey Fatone and Bass. The band broke up in 2002 as Timberlake embarked on a solo career.
