*NSYNC's Lance Bass blames industry pressure for preventing young boy banders from revealing their sexuality.
We're all about fielding #important pop star questions, thoughts, and concerns here at Buzzworthy -- well, really we should say adding our own two cents to pop star-themed debates. Especially when they're led by former *NSYNC member Lance Bass, who posed a fascinating (and potentially polarizing) boy band theory the other day during an interview on "The Rubin Report." What began as an semi-innocent conversation about NBA basketball player Jason Collins coming out as gay morphed into a larger discussion of what it means for members of the entertainment industry -- boy bands in particular -- to reveal their sexuality. (Lance, as you may remember, famously came out to the world on the cover of People magazine in 2006.)
In their chat, Lance and Dave Rubin discussed what it would mean for a boy band member to come out as being gay at the peak of their career, and they even went so far as to suggest that, statistically speaking, at least ONE member of One Direction might be gay. But, unlike an athlete, it'd be even harder theoretically for a boy bander to come out due to music industry "business plans" and sustaining "young women's fantasies." Read on to see how the exchange went down:
Read more about Lance Bass' thoughts about boy band members coming out after the jump.
Dave Rubin: "There is one other place where coming out still would be frowned upon, and I think it's from the boy band situation. If you took one of these One Direction kids, my guess is one of them is gay."
Lance: "Statistically speaking, one probably is. But it's crazy with a market like that because it's 100 percent young women and they fantasize about these guys. And then you have the record labels and everyone grooming you to make sure that you don't even mention that you have a girlfriend. So, screw the fact that you're gonna come out as being gay. It ruins their whole business plan."
OK, FOOD FOR THOUGHT. In an age where former teen idols like Lance and even Ricky Martin can be out and proud (but wouldn't dare say a word about it while at the peak of their career in the early '00s), would today's fangirls care if their favorite One Directioner WAS in fact gay? And don't misunderstand us -- we're not calling anyone gay here (but if you are, LET'S HANG!). But it IS worth considering that if a boy bander from a band like One Direction were gay, should they feel compelled to hide it due to industry pressure and keeping "girls' fantasies" alive?
Well, while we can't speak for every Directioner out there, I think that the answer is a resounding NO. According to NPR, 58 percent of America supports gay marriage -- which is a long way from 72 percent opposed in 25 years ago. Even President Obama said that "it wouldn’t dawn on [my daughters, Sasha and Malia] that somehow their friends' [same-sex] parents would be treated differently." And while this isn't necessarily a conversation about same-sex marriage, this IS a conversation about the overall changing attitudes toward gay acceptance. For example, did anybody bat an eye when TV journalist Anderson Cooper came out? Nope. Do women still call him "the silver fox"? Yep. No one cares. Fangirls want only the best for the boys they Stan for, and any hesitation to the contrary sounds like some good ol' fashioned record label/ PR paranoia. So boy banders, come out, come out whoever you are.
