Is it 1999 again? Because the big news this week is that ‘N Sync will apparently be performing at the MTV Video Music Awards on Sunday. This news came so far out of the woodwork that half of the news websites don’t even know how to spell the band’s damn name correctly (Entertainment Weekly grew lazy and went with an all-caps “NSYNC”).
So expect media outlets to do “Where Are They Nows” on the likes of Lance Bass (spoiler alert: He’s not on the moon), Joey Fatone (still licking his wounds from NBC’s “Singing Bee”), Chris Kirkpatrick (hair survived California wildfires), JC Chasez (forming an all-girl group—ahh, the circle of life), and Justin Timberlake (doing this sorry-ass VMA gig because Robin Thicke is killing him).
But there’s one name that hasn’t been mentioned: Lou Pearlman, former ‘N Sync manager who’s currently serving 25 years in prison for swindling investors and U.S. banks out of more than $300 million. Pearlman started the boy band, as well as countless other ones like the Backstreet Boys, so the impresario is as much a sixth member of the band the way sexual abuse is the seventh member.
Lou Pearlman was around for the golden days of ‘N Sync, so naturally it would be a real Throwback Thursday—on a Sunday, no less—if Pearlman appeared in an orange jumpsuit to reconcile with the band. JC Chasez seems up for it in this video from 2008.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vaNLpkCjKFc?feature=player_detailpage&w=580&h=360]
After all, this ‘N Sync VMA bomb won’t be a such a shock on Sunday anymore. But seeing the man behind one of the best-selling bands of the ’90s as well as one of the longest-running Ponzi schemes in American history? Surprise!
That man should get the chair for unleashing those boy bands on us.
Yes, Pearlman is paying the price for giving us the boy band phenomenon. But seeing him onstage, busting out the moves while wearing leg irons would be priceless!