Lance Bass Says His CW Pilot Was Canceled After He Came Out: “A Career Killer”

deadline.com:

Although Lance Bass has become a major LGBTQ figure over the years, his 2006 coming out resulted in some professional drawbacks.

The NSYNC alum explained that he “lost everything” when revealing his sexuality, including a pilot he was preparing to shoot for The CW, which could have been a potential launching pad for his onscreen career following his boy band days. “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,” said Bass on the Politickin’ podcast. “The career definitely changed, and they were right about that.

Like, it was definitely a career killer.” Bass starred in a 2000 episode of 7th Heaven, as well as the romantic comedy On the Line (2001).

After NSYNC announced an indefinite hiatus in 2002, he turned to acting, but declaring he’s gay in a July 2006 cover story for People proved to have a negative impact on his onscreen career. “I had a sitcom, you know, 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.