Lance Bass Spills Why It Might Be Time To (Finally) Reunite *NSYNC & Doug’s Governor For A Day
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online university for working adults. Start your comeback at purdueglobal.edu. It's hard to read the news these days without asking yourself, how did we get here? Fiasco is a history podcast from the co-creators of Slow Burn. In our first season, Bush v. Gore, we examine an unmistakable turning point in American politics, the 2000 election, which resulted in a high-stakes stalemate, ended with one of the most controversial rulings in Supreme Court history.

So if you're trying to make sense of the present moment, check out Fiasco, Bush v. Gore.

Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. He did say, he goes, if in a perfect world there is an NSYNC tour coming, then we can have another kid. Oh, geez. I said, that's pressure, brother. Man, what's happening, man? You got Marshawn, Beastmode, Lynch. Doug Hendrickson. And Gavin Newsom. And you're listening to Politicking. Jutting on the beat. Jutting on the beat.

Doug, Doug, here's a simple question I have for you. If you were governor, Dolores wants to know, if you were governor for a day, what's you got 24 hours, not just nine to five, none of that nonsense. You got one day, Doug. And by the way, you're a governor and your legislature's out. So they can't get in your way. Remember, it's multiple branches of government. And the courts have already given you green light. So the three branches, so you're the sole decider.

on whatever it is that you think needs to change or we need less of or more of, give it to us, Doug. Well, it's a two-part question, Gavin, but one, I'm going to say, obviously, less state taxes. Let's keep it that way. No state taxes. But no, you know what I would do, honestly? This sounds corny and stupid, but I've told you this before.

I would go to every single mayor and I would say, this is not optional, this is mandatory. I want every one of you guys one day a month to do a cleanup of the neighborhoods in the city and retrofit plants, flowers, cleanup, trash, all deal, and do a monthly community event where it brings all the community together, Alameda, whether it be Sacramento, whether it be Davis,

Marin, you name it, and do a monthly event, a revolving kind of event to kind of bring everybody together and whatnot. Sounds stupid and corny, but I'm all about cleanup and hug it out a little bit and go from there. I appreciate it. I just, if this...

Governor, I read about, seemed to read about periodically, hadn't done that, called Clean California, and actually funded it with $1.1 billion and created, quote unquote, designated communities, meaning community partners that we partner with, with volunteer opportunities and job opportunities, including for people that are previously incarcerated, a part of a reentry program and those that were previously unhoused, meaning homeless communities.

then I would say that's a novel and extraordinarily insightful idea. You're right. And I took that from you. But however, I would tell them if they don't do it, they're fired. That's the difference. That's the difference. You did it. You did it. And that's where I got it from. You're doing mandatory volunteering, which is kind of a different version of the word volunteer. This isn't the buffet where you can decide what you want to do. This is like, you need to do this or else you're out. Doug, the reason this is...

more resonant to me than you even think. It's one of the great frustrations with being governor of California is that I'm not the mayor of California. And I've said this before on the pod,

Man, you've got 476 cities, 58 counties. You've got city councils. You've got school boards. You have all these independent electeds. You've got city administrators. You've got rules and regulations that govern a lot of things at the local level. So even putting up an unprecedented amount of money, creating an initiative, launching that initiative. We did it down in LA, galvanizing the community, getting thousands and thousands, not just the volunteers, but we hired thousands and thousands of people as part of this program.

You're 100% right. There are communities that just said, nah, we're not interested. And instead, just like to point the finger and say, see how dirty everything is, see how terrible everything is. And there's a lot of this sort of victimization out there as opposed to people's cheer point.

stepping up and taking some responsibility and building community, which is what you're calling for and getting people engaged. I love that. It's funny. When I bought my first house in Petrura Hill back in like 2000, I'll never forget, I'm on this street and weeds would go in the cracks of the street, right? The whole street up like 10 blocks, weeds. And it drove me crazy. I hate weeds. And so I would get up on Saturdays or whatever day and I would pull all the weeds and

And people up the street looked at me like, dude, what is this guy doing? I said, no, I live down the street. I don't like the weeds. So nobody helped out for the first probably two months. People looked at me like I was nuts.

No BS. Every Saturday they're on, I was one of 30 people cleaning not only our street, but the surrounding blocks around Petrero Hill. And it was the coolest thing in the world. But people initially said, what's this guy doing? And then they said, you know what? Yeah, we feel better. It's a better street, better curb appeal. And it was pretty cool. But I did that back in 2000. Doug, I love that. By the way, we picked up not just on Clean California, which...

By the way, we're going to be expanding and we're going to create some more accountability in the spirit of what you're calling for.

But we also created, I've said it before, but we have the largest volunteer corps in America. It's bigger than the Peace Corps. And a big part of one of the groups, a big part of the group is called Climate Corps, which is exactly along the lines of what you're saying. It's not just planning things. It's cleaning things as well. And it's infectious. And here's a proof point. You'll appreciate this. Two story, Doug. We were out there on a little hike with the family. And I was with my little one, Dutch.

and he sees me pick up some garbage and it was kind of awkwardly sized. And I was like, oh God, I'll just carry this back. And he looked at me like, why are you picking that up? It was just, it was there on the trail. True story. About an hour later, I see him pick up a piece of garbage. He literally mirrored that behavior, which was just like amazing and a point of pride. That's exactly what happened to you with your neighbors. I love it. I love it. No, we need more of that.

And that's, by the way, that's how we get out of this rut and mess of everybody's so damn negative, all the cynicism, everybody's attacking each other as shared experiences and getting neighbors to meet neighbors, not through political lens, but just through, you know, sense of community and making things better. So I love the spirit of what you're saying. And hey, Dolores, thank you for the question.

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In the aftermath of a transformative election like the one we just had, it's hard to read the news without asking yourself every five seconds, how did we get here? That's exactly what we're always trying to figure out on Fiasco, a history podcast from the co-creators of Slow Burn. In our first season, Bush v. Gore, we examine an unmistakable turning point in American politics, the 2000 election, which came down to a recount in Florida and ended with one of the most controversial rulings in Supreme Court history.

In many ways, it's the beginning of the story we're living through right now. So if you're trying to make sense of the present moment, check out Fiasco, Bush v. Gore, and find out how a statistical tie in the Florida vote count put the nation into an unprecedented holding pattern, during which American voters waited with bated breath to find out whether Al Gore or George W. Bush would be the next president of the United States. Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. ♪

Hey, Gavin, we've got some great news. In the waiting room, we have a Mississippi kid. Yeah, and I've been to Mississippi many times. We've got a Mississippi kid. I'm still trying to figure out how to spell Mississippi. M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I. Yes, it is. Is it not?

It's I. Someone said Y the other day. I did say I. But we have a Mississippi kid that made it big, and that is really cool. There's a couple guys from Mississippi I knew made it big, and that might be him, Lance Bass, along with his former partner, Justin Timberlake from Mississippi. They both made it big. Lance, how are you, my man? What's going on? How are you guys?

Where are you? You're a fancy place. Where the hell are you, Lance? I'm here at home in Los Angeles. You can see my Harry Potter candles up in the sky for Christmas. Halloween just left and now Christmas is coming in. Hey, Gavin, don't let Lance fool you. He sold 70 million albums. He's made a lot of money. So you're just why with little royalty with us today? Am I supposed to bow or something? Luke Perlman took most of it. So, you know.

You're already five questions in already, Lance. We'll talk about that, buddy. Hey, Lance, before we begin, I want to tell you a little story back in the day. I met you back in the day. One of my clients was Jamal Anderson, the Dirty Bird. And so back in 2000, when you guys were the height of your fame and whatnot, doing the Super Bowl in Tampa, one of my first clients came

gave me tickets to the game. And before the game, he said, hey, can't wait to see you. And I said, great. Well, I'm at the hotel and someone said, I'll give you $20,000 for these two tickets. So I'm like, great. I'm going to sell it for $20,000. I'm with my fiancee, now wife, and I'm going to buy a couple of tickets for five, make 15 grand. Life is good.

And report it to the IRS, I hope, Doug, but that's another conversation. Right. So the prices kept going high on these tickets, so I could not buy two more tickets. But I got 20 grand in my pocket, I'm feeling good. And I'm like, I have to go to this game. I got my client, one of my first clients with Jamal back in 95, 96. I got to be at the game. So I go to the stadium.

and I'm walking kind of around the perimeter or whatnot. And you guys, you, Britney Spears, and Aerosmith were in like a holding area attached to the stadium. Remember, there was like an area you had to walk through. And all of a sudden, I get to the gate, and I see you guys and Aerosmith and Britney Spears walking into the stadium. And I'm like,

and I yelled your name and Justin's name. And I want to be honest, I think you turned around and at that time the security guy said, like, you know them? I said, yes, I do. And the guy let me and my fiance into the stadium. So now we're in the holding area.

As you guys are walking in, I jump right behind you guys, my wife and I, our fiance, and we go right in the stadium behind you guys and Aerosmith and go right in the stadium. And I snuck into the Super Bowl in 2000. It was a fantastic moment. $200,000 richer. I think that is amazing. That's what I used to do at Disney or Universal. If you act like you're supposed to be there, they just kind of let you do what you want to do.

100%. By the way, Lance, you don't even know who you're dealing with. That guy with that politicking shirt on right now literally doesn't even need... I'm surprised, Doug, you even needed a ticket, bro. I've seen this guy open up. I mean, if there was an Ocean's 14 or something, he should be the lead character. Wow.

This guy doesn't need a ticket. He BS's his place everywhere. We went to the impenetrable Super Bowl after 9-11. They said no one could ever get anywhere. I think you brought in six or seven people without tickets. But Lance, I imagine you get bored. All these people taking advantage of you that don't even know you and act like they've known you all your life. How the hell do you even process listening to that nonsense from Doug?

I mean, it's fine. Look, I'm used to it. And, you know, I don't know. I enjoy the effort that people make. I think it's entertaining to me. I think it's so. So I'm like, look, if you can if you can do your thing, go for it. Kudos to you, because I would do the same thing if I was in your shoes. Lance, I mean, you've because it's just, you know, your life's sort of been marked by, you know, the

I mean, there's nothing normal about your damn life. And it happened when you were so young, I mean, relatively speaking, a kid. And so, I mean, you know, it's, I mean, erratically, you reflect back seriously and just go,

I can't take this anymore. I need some normalcy. I need to understand, you know, I wish this never happened. This journey is a little overwhelming. The attention, sort of the adoration, people like Doug stalking you, you know, take, and what, what, I'm seriously, have you gone through the sort of those sort of pity party moments where you're like,

I can't take it. Well, you go up and down for sure. You know, I started at such a young age. You know, I started with NSYNC when I was 16 years old. So I really I don't really know the difference anymore. And I was always great with, you know, fame and being a public figure. Like I just I was I was one of those people that could just really deal with it in a very positive way. I know tons of people that just they're just not that type of person.

But it really wasn't until I had kids, you know, recently in the last three years that, you know, I do second guess. I'm like, God, it would just be really nice to be anonymous, you know, going out with my kids, just really being able to do things with them without people coming up and confusing them. I love, you know, meeting people. I love the fans out there, but there are.

There are some days where, you know, it would just be nice just to be just you and actually just remember who you were before all this happened. Did you have any of that during COVID? I mean, it's a bunch of folks that I know that, you know, well, recognizable folks. They said they missed the COVID days just for the masking. Everyone's masked.

And it could be anonymous and they can show up, go to grocery store and just feel alive. It was great. It really is. That's why I've always loved Halloween every year. Halloween is my, you know, that is my favorite day of the year because you can go around and no one knows who the hell you are. It is amazing. And yes, I did thrive during the COVID years because of the mask flying. That's the big thing. Cause you know, when you go to the airports and then there's just cameras in your face, all that.

It's just annoying, especially when you've been flying for 12 hours. You just want to get home. That mask really helped a lot. You could just disappear. And I still, to this day, you know, even if I'm not sick or anything, I will wear a mask at the airport. Well, let me ask you a question, taking you back to those Mississippi days and your humble beginnings. And then you get into what you get in NSYNC.

And by the way, the Lou Perlman thing I'm going to get to because obviously that documentary I saw recently in him was fascinating. And as a sports agent, which I am now, watching you during that time as a 16, 17-year-old kid in those heydays, number one, like with Lou, you guys were probably just like, oh my God, we started out and all of a sudden next you know we're selling out arenas, insane stuff.

with Lou Pearlman in terms of what he did, did your family or your parents, or did anybody kind of have any idea what was going on as far as the, the contracts you guys signed and all that, where was it pretty much like, we don't care where we've made it. We're good. And then all of a sudden, Oh my God, what did we sign? Yeah. I mean, look, you don't know what you don't know. You know, we were all very young and ignorant to the business. I didn't know anything about the music business. Yeah.

When you're a teenager, you're just thinking, wow, I just want to be an artist. And this would be so much fun to do. You're not thinking of the business part of it. And especially your parents didn't know anything like that. I mean, my mom's right here helping me prep for my Thanksgiving dinner. It's just a school teacher from Mississippi. What does she know about the music industry? You just have to trust people. And you know, you...

When you're young, you trust a lot of people and people like Lou Pearlman, who was the president of my label and our manager and

the sixth member of NSYNC and he was taking about six different cuts. You just really you thought he was family. So you always just believed everything he said and that he was going to take care of you. So, you know, we just believed in someone. It taught us a lot of lessons. I'm in a weird way glad we went through that at an early age because no one's ever going to take advantage of me like that again. And I became a great businessman after that.

So, you know, as much as he took from us, he gave me a lot. And I think I was able to, you know, create something and a great career, you know, despite what he was trying to take from us. And when was reflection moment? Did one of you guys in particular say, hey, guys, we're getting screwed? Or when was the what was the reflection moment where you said, oh, my God, this something's not right?

Yeah. You know, I was always the one that kind of was the business minded one. So I, I knew something was weird after a few years of having sold out tours, selling merch like no other, and we still hadn't gotten paid. And we were just living on per diem, which as a kid, I'm like, wow, you know, $40 a day. That's incredible. Like I'm getting, this is more money than I've ever made. But then after, you know, making the label millions and millions and millions and millions of dollars,

You're like, okay, so at what point have we paid our dues? Like, what is that? And it was a specific moment where we were getting our first check presentation because a lot of people don't realize we're a German band. We're signed with Nia. And so the president of our label in Germany came over to Los Angeles to present us a check.

I think it was at Lowry's, you know, in La Cienega. And we had my parents there, all the families. And Lou Pearl was so excited to present us this check. And I didn't know, you know, after four years of being one of the biggest bands in the world, I didn't know what that was going to be. But I had in my mind, like, you know, is it...

half a million dollars. I mean, I'd be happy with a quarter million dollars. Like, I'm just like, I'm like, I'm not actually going to be able to, to buy a car. Like I'll actually have to have, I'll be able to have transportation. And he printed, presented us a check and it was $10,000 each. And you know, I, you know, I, I grew up very humble and that is a lot of money for a lot of people. But when you work for free every day, 24 seven, you're,

You know, you deserve more than that. You know, and I just knew at that moment, like, oh, something's really wrong, that he is proud of that. Like, he is so proud to give us that little bitty check. And I could look at the president of the label and his face was kind of like, oh, he knew he was in the wrong. And eventually he would tell me, he's like, look, you don't understand how much I have to pay Lou Proman in order to give y'all pennies.

And that's when I started learning how the business worked, how contracts worked. And even then, I didn't even want to tear up our contract. I just wanted to renegotiate. And he wasn't having it. There was no renegotiation. And that's when we, you know, we left him and he sued us and all that went down. But, you know, it all it all ended up great. Yeah.

Well, it's funny, Gavin, it's almost on the, like we did Demi Lovato, that bill you passed. I mean, again, these guys get taken advantage of back then is, is, you know, sort of similar to the Lovato bill you passed recently. Yeah. Lance, we did that bill just, I mean, you got a lot of folks on under, you know, younger than 18 and, and,

In some cases, and obviously your mom's right there, so this wasn't the case in your household, but a lot of parents are taking the money, even if they're receiving the money, and they never get that money back. So the idea of setting aside those resources now is mandated. And it's not just for folks in your industry, but for folks in the creator industry as well with YouTube and everywhere else where a lot of that exploitation is occurring. Yeah.

It's so necessary. And, you know, thank you for, you know, doing that in it, but it's so sad how taken advantage of these kids still are. Even it doesn't matter what we pass and what, how many lessons we give everyone documentaries we put out there. People are still going to sign that horrible contract because they're

It's either that or nothing. And everyone thinks, okay, it might be a horrible contract now and I might be taking advantage of, but I can, I can fix that. And it's just so sad that we even have to, you know, to, to do that. Lance with social media. Now you guys didn't have it back then, but do you kind of cringe now when you see these young guys and all the content and the social media, if you had it, imagine social media in sync. I mean, can you believe that? I mean, do you, do you kind of like,

God, I need to have seminars and educate some of these younger kids because it's getting crazy right now, correct? But can you think about your childhood and what advice you'd give these young kids now?

Yeah. I mean, look, find an incredible entertainment lawyer and that is an entertainment lawyer. And, you know, that that helps right there. You know, always, you know, it's good to trust people, but always keep that one eye out and always have just a great group of people around you. If it's family and again, family can take advantage of you. If it's, you know, close friends, but some you have to trust someone.

and let them kind of guide you through this. But everyone's been through everything. So there's a lot of great examples. Any kind of social media person out there, look at someone that's been doing what you're trying to do and go...

see what they did, see the people that they've surrounded themselves with, who are they working with and start there. But Lance, for you, was that a path you paved yourself? I mean, because you made your point, I mean, your career, what you've been able to do with that experience and how you use that to actually empower you and how you've not just survived, but you continue to thrive.

Did you have those mentors along the lines or was this iteration for you? You figure it out along the way. Yeah, I kind of had to figure it out on my own. I didn't really have many mentors, especially in business. So it was a lot of trial and error. You know, I put my hands on a lot of things after NSYNC. You know, I had a lot of

interests. I mean, I'm from restaurants to music, television, film, I mean, just all over the place. And a majority of them completely failures, but every time that I would fail, I would learn more things. And so I enjoy failing because it does, it just makes you a better person. And then you start to figure out exactly what you're meant to do. And I feel like finally at 45, I

I know exactly what I want to do and what I'm supposed to do right now. By the way, Ryan, there's a great Winston Churchill quote, said the secret of all success, Churchill. So you kind of pay attention. Secret of all success is moving from failure to failure with enthusiasm. Yeah.

and, you know, mistakes are a portal of discovery. I dig that. All right, so begs the damn question, man. You're an old man now, and you just figured out what you really want to be when you grow up. So what is it? What is it? Well, you know, my kids kind of changed that for me. You know, my whole life has just been entertainment. It's like, this is what I'm supposed to do. This is what, you know, everyone wants me to do. And I do enjoy it, but I figured out I like

other things even better. I'm a creative person, so I don't have to be in front of the camera. I love being able to write and produce behind the scenes. But I also love real estate. Like I really love, you know, real estate, which I'm really getting heavily into right now. And with that, I like things that I can control. I don't like being a part of anything that people can tell you no.

And that is entertainment. You know, you get told no 99% of the time. People in this industry that get to decide and you work on a project for four years and you work so hard on it and spend so much money. And then they're finally like, yeah, no, not right now. That won't work.

And you're like, okay, I just wasted all that time. I don't want to do that anymore. I want to be the boss. I want to tell myself yes and be, you know, be my own boss. And that's the path that I'm taking. And especially with my kids, it's more in the family-friendly direction.

atmosphere right now. You know, I'm doing, you know, children's books and children's film and television. So, you know, and that just makes me just happy because I get to create what I want to do. I get to release it when I want to. And that's what I love about the social media world too. No one can tell me no. If I want to make, you know, a fun little skit,

i'm going to put it up and it's up in 24 hours and there you go and then millions of people get to see it more people than would watch a tv show that i spent three years developing and then half a million people see it like i can i can get those many people to see my one little video in 24 hours and and i feel just as fulfilled

In the aftermath of a transformative election like the one we just had, it's hard to read the news without asking yourself every five seconds, how did we get here? That's exactly what we're always trying to figure out on Fiasco, a history podcast from the co-creators of Slow Burn. In our first season, Bush v. Gore, we examine an unmistakable turning point in American politics, the 2000 election, which came down to a recount in Florida and ended with one of the most controversial rulings in Supreme Court history.

In many ways, it's the beginning of the story we're living through right now. So if you're trying to make sense of the present moment, check out Fiasco, Bush v. Gore, and find out how a statistical tie in the Florida vote count put the nation into an unprecedented holding pattern, during which American voters waited with bated breath to find out whether Al Gore or George W. Bush would be the next president of the United States. Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

On the flip side of that, was there one indelible no that you think shaped most? I mean, when you look back, you're still it's it's a burning inside you.

that sort of has driven most of your, you know, just sort of shift of consciousness? Was there some truly devastating, teed up, some rejection that just stings even to this day? I mean, there's been a lot of, you know, great rejections. Great. But, you know, I won't specifically say the show, but, you know, I was up for a really great hosting gig that would have really changed my life. Oh.

And I was so excited for the opportunity. And I really thought that this could be my future. And I ended up not getting it. And it really derailed me for a while. I'm like, okay, if I didn't get that, what is next? Now I got to, it's like starting over all over again. And I was just so tired. I'm like, I don't want to start over again and start paying my dues again. And that was really when I started looking at

Why am I even trying so hard in this entertainment industry to please everyone? Let's just start doing things that I want to do and that I feel creative with. And again, that no one can say no to. I get to be-

Yeah. Well, let me ask a question in the heyday of NSYNC, when Justin decided to pull away, when you guys are there, did you have any, did you sit back? Were you too young to realize like, like thinking maybe he's going to go do some solo stuff and then come back. And then how was your mentals when he pulled away and then kind of NSYNC kind of like it went away initially after the next couple of years, we were like, Oh my God, like we just were killing it. We're on top of the world now it's gone. Or what was your mindset back then?

You know, I was confused for sure. I mean, again, I was such a young person and all I knew was NSYNC. That was my life. There was no Lance Bass. There was just Lance of NSYNC.

And so that was my world and I was happy that was my world. I thought that was gonna be my world the rest of my life. I didn't think that there'd be anything different, you know, ignorantly. So yeah, so when, you know, we decided that the group was no longer, it was very confusing for me because I didn't know where I belonged and I wasn't really, I wasn't really setting myself up for success because I was just waiting, you know, because I was told by the label, everyone's like, oh no, we just need three more months. Oh, we just need, you know, five more months. I'm like,

Okay. And I was turning down sitcoms and work that I could have really done to establish me as a solo person, but I didn't. I was just waiting because I was waiting for my group. So when it didn't happen, yeah, I was very disappointed. I was disappointed more in myself.

Because I stupidly just kind of sat back and just thought, oh, well, this is just going to be waiting for me and let me just go have fun. And well, also I was in the closet at the time, so I was kind of finding myself. So it was a good timing to...

have a little downtime. But by the time that I got back up and, you know, out and the group was over, I was left with nothing and not knowing exactly where I was supposed to be. So, yeah, it took a while to figure out who I was and where I needed to go. But, you know, it was a big life lesson. And again, I learned at an early age. So I'm glad I got to do that

Well, Lance, that begs the question for our listeners out there. By the way, I just went to the Sphere and I saw the Eagles. And I remember when they had their press conference. When hell freezes over, we're coming back. Everybody wants to know, when is NSYNC coming back for this reunion? Because that's going to be the biggest thing in the world. I know it's the first time you've gotten this question, Lance. It is. I can't believe it.

ever asked me that. I know. You can tell us the truth. You can tell us the truth of what is, what's the first date? It's been great. The last two years have been great for the group because we haven't done anything in two decades, but you know, we got together to do the trolls movie together. And then all of a sudden Deadpool uses bye-bye-bye. And it's just, something's in the air right now with our group and our fans have kind of going a little nuts and

the younger generation, this Gen Z is now like figured out who we are, although they think we're the Deadpool group, but I'm totally, um, and you know, so there's definitely something in the air that we're trying to figure out, you know, Justin's on tour for the next six months. He's been, you know, extending his tour. So obviously there's nothing we could do until that's done, but we're definitely, you know, discussing what the future could hold and what we could do, but, you know, fingers crossed, um,

you know, we give the fans a little something, something. I would enjoy that. I would just like my kids to be able to see me do something. So, you know, like you're in a band. Sure. Like, sure, dad. Yeah, sure, dad. Yeah. By the way, Doug, that sounds like you're going to make a surprise appearance at the Superbowl. That's what I just heard. Ah,

And then release an album right after that they've been quietly working on. You're only going to be able to sneak in. Exactly. You're not invited. By the way, just, you know, it's interesting, you know, it's funny and sort of generations to rediscover and it takes sort of a good time. I love the Deadpool frame, right? That all of a sudden now you kind of,

people that may have heard your music but never really identified all the energy around that music. That's got to be, I mean, in so many ways to sort of see sort of, you know, these points of your career that get just reintroduced and reenergized over and over and over again. It is great, you know, and it's just nice to see that, you know, some of our songs –

stand the test of time. I mean, even those dance moves, kids come, I mean, there's little kids now, eight, nine years old that come up to me in public and they just love it. They love the songs. They especially love the dance, of course, because it's now in Minecraft. So I've actually, I think we're cooler now than we were back then. Back then it was kind of embarrassing to like a boy band, but now I don't know this younger generation, just they accept it. They love it. So I'm very appreciative.

And Lance, let me ask you a question. And I applaud, you know, Gavin and I have been brothers and family for 30 years. And unfortunately, our co-host, Marshawn, is not here right now. He's actually flying back from, I believe, a movie he's doing. But in any event, like, I applauded Gavin the other day on the show when he talked about a story about his dad when he, you know, he was the first mayor that implemented gay marriage. When was that, Gavin? Was that 2004? Yeah.

We were kids, black and white movie days, 2004, the winter of love, Lance, 4,036 couples from 46 States. And, you know, but, but it is, you know, it's interesting. I know where Doug's going with this, man. It's, you know, here you are talking about a boy band and sort of iconic, you know,

and you guys are peeking and everything else, and you're struggling with your own identity. And then I imagine struggling moreover with how you express that. And then how does that impact not just you, mom, dad, your family, your relationships, but how does that impact your reputation, your career? How does it impact your colleagues?

And I mean, all that going through your head, but you eventually did it in a pretty profound and consequential way. You know, you did it. You went big and bold. But what I mean, was that a multi-year process of just trying to figure that out, man, or just it was a moment you said, I've had it.

I mean, it was, look, it was definitely a whole life process of, you know, trying to figure out who I was. I mean, I knew I was gay since I was, you know, five years old. So like I knew, I knew that, you know, that was a part of me, but also knew at a young age, that was something I was going to have to hide my whole entire life because I thought that it was,

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. You just always heard of people being murdered because of that. And, you know, growing up in the churches, you know, it was caused by the devil. You're going to hell. Yeah.

As a very religious person growing up, you know, I wanted to do everything I could not to go burn in hell. And so that I repressed and I was so scared of and I would cry all like every night to pray. You know, I would pray, please wake up not being gay. Please wake up being attractive girls, which is like a set on a little kid. Yeah.

And so, yeah, you know, and then being God's little joke of putting me in a boy band where 99% of your fans are females. You're like, you're living this life and like, okay, this can be fun. And it's right when you're, you know, coming of age and you're first dating for the first time. And then your best friends in the group are having girlfriends. I'm like,

Oh Lord, I'm going to have to deal with this. I'm really going to have to deal with this. And I'm in like the most public person in the world right now. Like, how am I supposed to deal with this? And, you know, you would date girls and you'd have girlfriends and you would trick yourself into thinking, this is what love is, right? This is, this is what it feels like. And I thought I loved these girls that I, you know, dated. And then you just wake up one day, you're like,

no, this is not it. And it was at a time, that was 2006. So it was getting a little easier to be more vocal about who you are. We were fighting for marriage equality. So you had a lot of people, you just saw people fighting for you and you're like, okay, I don't feel as alone. And then you started seeing people come out that you knew. And in the business, there weren't many people, even Ellen hadn't even come out at that point.

So, you know, the decision to come out on the cover of People magazine was it was a scary one. I didn't I didn't really have a choice. That was kind of a bandaid being ripped off because I was outed by the press. So they gave me basically 24 hours. Look, wow. We know the story. We know you're gay. We're going to write it. But would you like to do it with us so we get the story right or just let us make it up?

But that wasn't People Magazine themselves. No, that was not People. But you pivoted there. Exactly. I just, I trusted that they would be better at telling the story. And so, yeah, so I had 24 hours to...

tell my story. And then it was on the stands, you know, the next day. And it was, it was a crazy, scary situation because all the examples I've ever had of anyone coming out, especially entertainment was that it's a career killer. You're dead. Everything, your, your career's over. People are going to hate you. Your church has now kicked you out. Your family hates you. Just every negative thing you could think about is going to happen. And,

It went opposite. It was the first time I ever saw. And I remember I went to Catalina Island and I was like, you know what? I'm going to disappear. I don't even want to see what's happening. I don't want to see the soundbites on the shows. I don't want to see Jay Leno. I don't want to see any of them people making fun of me because one, I was embarrassed for the gay community. I didn't want them to.

to be like, oh God, like now we're embarrassed. Like now they're going to be making fun of this guy and we've come so far and now we're going to go back further just because now they have someone as a punching bag. And so, but it didn't happen that way. You know, once I came up for air and I saw how people were taking it, it was such a positive take on everything. And the main thing I took away was everyone like,

Who cares? Like, why do people care now? I'm like, oh my gosh, that's amazing. This is so incredible. You know, the career definitely changed and they were right about that. Like it was definitely a career killer. But, you know, not too long after that,

I just saw a lot of success stories in entertainment. And I love that. I mean, I love being able to turn on the radio and hear so many LGBTQIA artists, incredible actors. I mean, it's actually a good thing to be yourself these days. I think if you're kind of hiding yourself and you're closeted,

that it's harder to have a career in this business. - Lance, you said it was a career killer. I mean, what happened? If people, I mean, they weren't returning calls or just saying, oh, that's for straight people. I mean, what, I mean, you got hit between the eyes on that, huh? - Yeah, 'cause I was, you know, I definitely had pivoted into television at that point and I was going into talk show, but I was also doing acting. You know, I had a sitcom, you know, 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 believe that you're straight to play a straight character.

And I'm like, okay. So like in 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. You know, agents, everything, just everyone just kind of like kind of fell off. Like, I don't know what we can do with you now. Yeah.

And so, yeah, I had to completely just restart and rebrand at that moment. Did you rekindle any of the relationships you had with the people? Like you said, agents left you and this and that. Did you rekindle any of that or like have any conversations since then? The guy's like, dude, I'm sorry, I fucked up. Like, I mean, any of that or was it, how was that? A lot of the casting directors for sure. They're all kind of like, yeah, that was really dumb. And, you know, and they've actually cast me a lot of things since, which is really funny and ironic. But, you know, I never hold grudges at all.

at all. Like I'm very understanding. Like I get it. Business is business is business. It sucks. But I never can hold grudges. So even if you piss me off and do something horrible to me,

I'm always going to like be friends again. That's kind of like a downfall of mine. So Lance says, as a, I have three kids, Gavin has four. And you said you knew at five. So take me through your, like, it had to be in seeing my kids struggle with anything, just whatever it may be. But like, how did you get through those years where you're like, you know what, this is what I am, whatever. And with no one knowing and living in a state like Mississippi, you said where people get killed for this stuff.

How did you function and get through? Did you just keep yourself busy and keep active and whatnot? Or how did you make it through those 10, 11, 12, 13 years? Yeah. I mean, you just, you basically ignore it. Yeah. And you keep yourself like very busy. You turn into like a character, you know, you're always trying to, you know, you hear little things, you know, like there's, I remember hearing when I was a kid, oh, if someone says so a lot when they're, you know, talking, it's like, oh, it's so sunny outside that that's great.

So I would catch myself using the word. So I'm like, oh, so you would change how you spoke at a young age. You would kind of think about like, I can't I can't be seen, you know, even like drinking a glass. You know, if your finger goes up, up, you're gay. If you if your eyeballs go up and not into the cup, you're gay. I suppose like in the and even in school, we would do the gay test. Like there was all these little tests you would do.

And it was just so... It was so scary. I'm like, oh, they're going to figure me out. Which is so ridiculous. But yeah, I mean, you just...

Yeah, you just kind of put it out of mind, although it was almost impossible when those things would come up, like the gay test. But yeah, you just really hyper-focused on keeping yourself busy. I was always trying to entertain. I was always the comedian. And I feel like that's a lot of the case with entertainers. You always go to comedy when you're closeted. And I definitely went the comedy route with all my friends.

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Lance, how do you feel today? I mean, with all the progress and I appreciate sort of that promoted progress in the 2000s and obviously with COVID

the big Supreme court decision and, and, and feeling like we're on the other side of a lot of that bigotry and a lot of that misunderstanding and hate. Do you, are you feeling like the last few years, there's sort of that, that, that pendulum sort of swung back particularly against the trans community, but even more broadly with all of these book bands that are going on that don't quote unquote, quote unquote, say gay bill in Florida, uh,

And everything with criminalizing speech in the boardroom, not just in the classroom, threatening, firing teachers and librarians if they check out the wrong book that often has LGBTQ themes. I mean, what's your sense of where the hell we are right now?

well you're right the pendulum swings you know and it went this way and it's got like so we always know we're going to deal with that but yes i feel like we are going a little backwards right now uh you know we are definitely entering an era where people are emboldened to hate um and

You know, the LGBTQIA community has always been the scapegoat. It's just the easy one because people don't, you know, if you don't know a gay person, if you're not gay, you just don't, you don't under, you don't get it. So it's easy to hate someone like that, especially when you have,

you know, a book like the Bible that they pretend says that you're supposed to not like, you know, gay people, which it doesn't say I've read it many times. So, you know, and it's just, you know, ignorance, ignorance, you know, prevails in this country, unfortunately. And, you know, even things like trying to take IVF away.

they're only trying to take IVF away just because of the gay community, not because straight people are actually using this and use it way more than the gay community, but they're trying to give it to us. You know, they're trying to give voters a reason to vote a certain way. And they always use our community for it, you know, and they always like, you know, one pedophiles,

pedophiles don't make me a pedophile just because i'm gay immediately i'm a pedophile like how okay how does that relate why don't you why don't you go to the the churches and see what the pedophiles uh exist um so you know but it's something that we're we're used to we're always gonna have to fight uh but i think you know the next few years is gonna be you know a struggle but we've been here before uh the good thing is things don't change overnight it just doesn't uh and that's what gives me a little peace uh i

you know i i'm old enough to be like pretty much everything is just like everything's just so bs and everyone's just like doing this to make their agenda happen but like nothing really changes overnight um so that you know that makes me be able to sleep at night that we can you know keep i'm aware of what's going on but i'm not going to hyper focus on

the craziness that has happened. I'm going to live my life. I'm going to enjoy my family. I'm going to do the right thing and support the right people, but I'm not going to wake up every morning and just worry about the, the, you know, doom and gloom of the world because, you know, ultimately we're going to survive and we're going to be good and things are better and things are only going to get better. And I, and I, and I find peace in that.

Well, by the way, I appreciate you saying that because that's so true. And everybody lives that way. Like me and Gavin always talk about we're in a better spot. And it seems, Lance, you're in the height of where you were back in the day. But right now you seem like you're in an incredible spot with your mentals. You've got a great husband. You've got great kids. You've got great things going on. Do we have more kids coming for you guys soon? Do we have a bigger family than the two? What do we got going on? What do you ask? Yeah, it's – yeah, we – I –

I would love a couple more. Like I just, I've always dreamt of a big family. My husband's kind of like, I think we're good. We're good. He did say, he goes, if, if in a perfect world, there is an NSYNC tour,

coming, then we can have another kid. So geez, I said, that's pressure, brother. Wow. I'm trying to make this happen. So I'm like, okay, like I would love an NSYNC tour, but it means I get to have another kid. So I want it more than the fans. Okay. Well, I'll never forget. I have three and my, I never forget. I'm taking a nap and my wife comes down and, and she, and I look at her and I'm like, I go,

And I never forget it. And then Gavin wanted to one-up me in a four. And I thought he was nuts. I was set up. Best thing that ever happened to me, of course, is a little Dutch. It's like you can't make this stuff up, right? I mean, nothing's by accident. It was...

What a gift. So you got it, Lance, man. I'm telling you, but two is, you don't even know. You're not even a parent at two, Lance. You're not even a parent. You guys are on your parents right now. You got to have at least three or four. You don't even know what it's like. Yeah, your parents still come home. They want to take care of the kids. You get to three, four, they're like, sorry, honey.

mom and dad were unavailable. Can't get babysitters. You got to change the car. You can't get reservations because all of a sudden it's a five top six your whole life, brother. You got to prepare. That's what I always said too. I mean, I like even, right? So if I have one that would, you know, when you go to Disney, you got to be in pairs. So I'd have to have two more in order to like everything to be equal. Uh,

So, yeah. So, yeah. Yeah. But two plus two is 16. Trust me, I got four. So it's I'm just saying this this tour better be a lucrative one for you, buddy. I've always loved the idea. You know, we do have some embryos left. So, like, of course, we if we had kids.

I would use those, but I always love the idea of adopting. I think, you know, adoption has been something that I've always dreamt of doing. There's so many kids out there that need loving homes. And maybe in the future, when my kids are older, I'd be able to, you know, adopt, you know, a 10 year old or, you know, someone like a little older, that's a little, you know, harder. And that will be, at least they're out of diapers, right? That's, that's the problem. Diapers.

We're almost out of diapers and I can't even imagine going back through that again. But that's the only thing deterring me from having one right now. Doug doesn't remember the diaper days. He's worried about his tomorrows, different kinds of diapers. I remember the diaper. Your age, brother. I'm not, but by the way, Gavin, let's for the record, you're a year older than me partner. I shouldn't look in the mirror. Hey, but Lance, let me ask a question as a, as a parent now, uh,

and what you've gone through in terms of your career. Do you want them into show business? Do you want them into entertainment? Or what's your thoughts? I mean, in a perfect world, no. I mean, in front of the camera, I would say no. I mean, be a writer, produce great. Yeah, but I think...

Especially this, you know, being a public figure back in my day compared to now, it's just so much more pressure. It's just, it can be very vile because everyone has a microphone, you know, to give their own opinion. And not only do people give opinions, but bots give opinions and troll farms, which...

create a culture of, you know, you know, the pitchfork mentality of like, yeah, that's right. Bandwagon. It's just scary. You know, I mean, I've had, I mean, I've had to change all my social stuff to only people that follow me are able to comment because just the vile things that I just can't not see, you

And even about my kids, you know, that's where it really hurts. You're like, how could you say that about a three-year-old just because you hate that I'm gay or just who I voted for? Like, just that's crazy. So I would not want that. I would not wish that upon my kids to have to deal with that because even if you have a thick, thick, thick skin, it's still going to penetrate. You're still going to hear some of those things. Yeah.

You know, I keep trying to, you're not supposed to push your kids in certain areas, but I'm like, wouldn't you like to be a vet? Like an animal doctor sounds great, right? Like twin vets, you can have your own little twin vets. How great would that be? And of course, my immediate thing is I got a TV show for that. Let's do twin vets. But then my daughter, you know, she's been seeing me on TV lately and now, you know, she gets it. She's like, oh, you know, you're on TV. You have your friends, your NSYNC friends.

But she told me the other day, she's like, I want to be on TV. And I was like, dude, brother, there's no chance. Lance, somebody pivot to your space stuff right now. I'm curious. Because Gavin is the governor. Yeah, what about astronaut? You said everything but not astronaut. I'm getting my question, Gavin. But Gavin is the governor as the fifth largest economy in the world. I'll tease Gavin. Why has there not been another guy on the moon, Lance, since 1968? What's going on? Doug doesn't believe it ever happened. He's one of those guys. He thinks it's staged. Did it happen?

It definitely is. It's like some studio in LA. Trust me. When I went to Russia and I trained, I asked all the questions because every single person I trained with over there, they're the ones who put Yuri Gagarin in space. It's the same exact people. So they had been there. They've seen it. They've done it. So of course, I asked questions.

Every question I could. And I am very confident we've definitely been up there. And my, you know, you know, we haven't been to the moon in many, many, many years because there's no reason to go to the moon. But I do feel that recently we are going to, you know, at least build a base there. You know, the ISS is very finite. It's going to be coming down soon. So we do need a place to go and, you know, have a base, do our experiments. A lot of people don't understand that.

why we even go up there. But I mean, the things that we have created and, you know, inspired by being able to go there is just help this planet. And of course, this planet is finite. So we have to start figuring out, okay, how do we live off of this earth? And it's going to take us many, many, you know,

Hundreds of years to figure this out, but, you know, we have to start now. And I always support the space program. I'm still heavily involved with it. And I'm happy to see that it has gotten, you know, privatized because I think, you know, as you know, Gavin, when the government gets involved, it's almost impossible to get things done very quickly. So I'm glad that we are, you know, going light years faster than we were before. And if my kids want to become astronauts, I would definitely be a yes for that.

And are you a, yes, are you going to do Blue Origin? You're going to do Virgin Galactic? You're going to do one of those? I would. I think it'd be fun. It's like a roller coaster for sure. You know, I, my, my goal was to, you know, I was going up there living on the ISS for 10 days. I had my, I was doing environmental studies. I was doing blood work studies. So, you know, I wasn't going up there just for fun. Yeah.

Going up there to inspire a younger generation to go into math and science and, you know, and look up instead of down on your phone. And I'm glad that, you know, people are excited, you know, about it. But if I go, I want to go on a real mission. You know, I really want to, you know, I'm certified. I'm ready to go. I still have my my my flight suit still fits me. Let's do this.

But, you know, if they wanted me to just jump on a rocket and go to space and take great pictures, I'd do that too. But I'm not going to pay for it. I would never pay. I went through so much. There's no way I would pay a dime to go to space. Yeah. So if anyone wants to throw me on there, sure. I'll take a free ticket. Hey, Doug, years ago, I did one of those. What is it? It was a zero gravity or something. The parabolic next level. Unbelievable.

That was unbelievable. You've obviously, it's part of your training, right? You do that a lot. I mean, we train on that a lot, you know, and it's, it's such an incredible feeling just, just that alone. You're like, Oh my gosh. But yeah, I mean, I remember my first parabolic flight cause you know, Russia likes to, you

really test you and see if you freak out in moments. And I remember Mark Shuttleworth, the first African in space, he was the one right before me and he was giving me the lowdown. He's like, look, they're going to wake you up at three in the morning yelling fire in Russian and like just seeing how you freak out. So the whole time I'm thinking, okay, they're testing me, they're testing me. So of course my first pair

parabolic flight, the plane starts going down and like we have to put our parachutes on, which is static. I've never jumped out of a plane before. The plane goes up like this. They're pushing tourists out because, you know, Russia doesn't have enough money. So they have to have tourists on their flights. They're pushing these tourists out. And I realize this is real. And I get right to the edge and like, OK, we got it. We're good. And then we continue the lesson.

And I'm like, oh, man, I think that was just a total just to see if I freaked out. And they didn't care that they just threw tourists out over Siberia. I have no idea what they did. Parachutes on, obviously. Oh, yeah. It was a static line. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, no. That ain't going to work for me. Nothing about that works for me. Well, Lance, Gavin would grow up. I'm afraid of heights, man. Like, I can't. We climbed the Bay Bridge one time and I almost had a panic attack and an anxiety attack. But Gavin would definitely go up. But that's way scarier than going up to space or even doing...

Like you're so far up that there is no height. You know, you don't feel that, you know, scared. Doug, these parabolic flights are next level. My wife, because she was the smallest one of the group, we got her in a little bowl and we would throw her from one side of the airplane to the other. And just, you know, drinking the water and the M&Ms up in the air, doing pushups where you just do one pushup and you're sort of flung to the ceiling. Yeah.

it was an experience of a lifetime. But yeah, it's going to space. But it's interesting. I appreciate, you know, this proves you're like the real deal that you're not into sort of that touristy space thing. You're not into- I'm glad people are doing it. It pays for what we're trying to do with the real experiments. And it would be so fun just to be able to see Earth from that view. I don't know why

friend, Ed Liu, who was going to be on the station with me, you know, a lot, my experiments got to the ISS a week before I did and my clothes were up there. So he found my flight suit on the ISS and he ripped the name tag off and floated it in front of earth and took a picture and actually snuck down, which he's not supposed to do, but snuck down the patch. So I still have it framed in my office and

It's just that alone, seeing my name floating in front of earth is just like, I feel like I was there. It's just so beautiful. That's very cool. Lance Licks, you've lived a blessed life, man. You really have, man. And look, I really admire where you came from and where you've been and you've lived an incredible journey and you got a long way to go, man. But it's very cool to see what you've done and

and uh success you've had and you've got so many things you're cooking on and whatnot and and the sky's limber for you bro i've always been a huge fan of yours loved what you're all about i love the story you told us today the honesty about everything you've done and it's really cool to see uh your journey and where you go man and i and by the way when you're on sync when you're on tour within sync i'm gonna send you one of these politicking hoodies you're gonna wear on stage

And we're going to get that thing going. As long as you can sneak in and find me. Jesus, too easy. I will sneak in. No, but seriously, I mean, y'all are, I mean, y'all obviously are great inspirations and you know, I really look up to you guys too. So, you know, thank you for all you've done just to inspire people like me. Yeah.

I appreciate it, Lance. Thank you, brother. Thanks for being with us. Thanks for everything you're doing. And thanks for being out there on so many damn causes, brother. It's always, always great to see you on the road. Give him general for my love. I appreciate it. Thank you. Thanks, Lance. All right. Hey, Doug, tell us where people can email us. Folks that are listening and want to ask us any questions. How do they email us?

Well, by the way, Gavin, we've got some incredible questions. We've had too many to even read. But if you do want to send us questions, it's politikin at iheartradio.com. That's politikin at iheartradio.com. Keep them coming.

So if you're trying to make sense of the present moment, check out Fiasco, Bush v. Gore.

Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts.