Lance Bass of 'N Sync thinks a member of British boy band One Direction might be gay.
In a new interview with The Rubin Report, 33-year-old Bass says of the possibility of a member of One Direction being gay, "Statistically speaking, one probably is. It's crazy with a market like that, because 100 percent is young women, and they fantasize about these guys. Then you have the record label and everyone grooming you to make sure that you don't even mention you have a girlfriend. So screw the fact that you're gonna come out as being gay. It ruins their whole business plan," Us Weekly reports.
Bass himself had to hide his sexuality from the public for quite some time, eventually coming out in 2006. He says that his friends and family knew, but at the time felt as though "If anyone found out that it would be the end of the group, everyone would completely make fun of us, and we would no longer make music anymore. . . which might have happened."
He continued, "I even hid it from myself. I didn't have any relationships [with men]. As long as I was with 'N Sync, I was completely asexual."
His bandmate Joey Fatone, who was the first member of the group to find out Bass was gay, told People back in 2006, "He took years to really think about how he was going to tell everyone. I back him up 100 percent."
Bass states that he didn't want the gay community to be embarrassed by his coming out or take it as a joke. Although he expected to be ridiculed, people were actually quite supportive. He says, "It was the first time I really heard people say, 'Who cares anymore?' That was a nice change for me."
Photo courtesy of Twitter