Lance Bass Claims His Sitcom Pilot Was Axed After He Came Out As Gay in 2006 PEOPLE Cover Story: ‘I Lost Everything’

• Lance Bass claims he once was attached to a CW pilot that was axed due to him coming out as gay in a 2006 PEOPLE cover story.
• He opened up about the experience during the Thursday, Dec. 5 episode of the Politickin’ podcast
• However, he explains that coming out wasn’t a “career killer”

Lance Bass claims he once was attached to a CW pilot that was axed due to his sexuality.

In the Thursday, Dec. 5 episode of the Politickin’ podcast, the *NSYNC musician, 45, alleges the show was supposed to start shooting but was shut down after he came out in a 2006 PEOPLE cover story.

“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 told hosts Gavin Newsom and Doug Hendrickson.

He continued: “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 faced the same issues with his agents at the time. “Everyone just kind of fell off, like, ‘I don’t know what we can do with you now,’” he said. “And so I had to completely restart and rebrand at that moment.” 

Reps for the CW have not yet responded to PEOPLE’s requests for comment.

Bass acknowledged that his “career definitely changed” after coming out, adding, “They were right about that, it was definitely a career killer. But, not too long after that, I just saw a lot of success stories in entertainment and I love that… it’s actually a good thing to be yourself these days.”

In fact, the “Pop” artist revealed that he’s since been approached by the creatives who initially shunned him over his sexuality when he came out.

“A lot of the casting directors for sure, they were like, ‘Yeah, that was really dumb.’ And they’ve actually cast me in a lot of things since, which is really funny and ironic,” Bass said. “But I never hold grudges at all. I’m very understanding — I get it, business is business is business. It sucks, but I never can hold grudges.”

During the conversation, the actor/musician also reflected on the experience of being closeted while in the public eye as one of the biggest boy bands of the late ’90s and early 2000s.

“I mean, I knew I was gay since I was, you know, 5 years old,” Bass said. “But also knew at a young age that was something I was going to have to hide my whole entire life because, you know, it was dangerous, especially growing up in a state like Mississippi where there’s not one gay person, not one out person at all, because it again was dangerous.”

The “Bye Bye Bye” performer added that from a young age he’d heard stories of people being murdered because they were gay, and was taught that “it was caused by the devil.”

“As a very religious person growing up, you know, I wanted to do everything I could not to go burn in hell,” Bass recalled. “I would cry like every night. You know, I would pray, ‘Please wake up not being gay. Please wake up being attracted to girls.’ Which is like a sad thing to put on a little kid.”

He then described being in a boy band with a largely female audience as “God’s little joke.”