Lance Bass Says His CW Pilot Was Killed After He Came Out, Was Told ‘They Have to Believe That You’re Straight to Play a Straight Character’

variety.com:

J. Kim Murphy Lance Bass opened up about one of the career hurdles he faced after coming out as gay in 2006, saying that development on a pilot he was planning to shoot for The CW was abruptly halted. “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,’” Bass shared on the Politickin’ podcast. “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.” “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,” Bass continued.

Bass had moved to pivot to acting after featuring in the boy band NSYNC from 1995 to 2002. He had featured in the romantic comedy “On the Line” in 2001.

He came out as gay in a People magazine cover feature in August 2006. The CW had just launched at the time, following a merger between UPN and The WB.