WATCH: Backstreet Boys, NSYNC Reveal Former Manager’s Crooked Ways in New Doc
NEW YORK – DECEMBER 2: Promoter Lou Perlman attends the benefit premiere of “Analyze That” at the Ziegfeld Theater on December 2, 2002 in New York City. (Photo by Lawrence Lucier/Getty Images)
YouTube’s newest original documentary about former boy band manager Lou Pearlman looks like it’s going to be absolutely insane.
The Boy Band Con: The Lou Pearlman Story features interviews from key members of the Backstreet Boys and NSYNC discussing their experience with Pearlman. Although he helped to revolutionize the late 90s cultural obsession with boy bands, Pearlman was also behind one of the biggest Ponzi schemes in history.
NSYNC’s Lance Bass produced the film, which premieres on YouTube Premiere on April 3.
In one clip from the trailer, Bass reveals that despite their massive global success, he and his band members were all in shock when they received their first paycheck.
“I open up the envelope, I see the check and oh my gosh, my heart sunk,” he said. “I couldn’t believe the number I was looking at.”
BSB’s AJ McClean echoed Bass, saying: “Something isn’t adding up. Lou’s getting paid. Promoters are getting paid. Never in a million years thought a person that I entrusted my life with could do something like this. And then to find out how many other people this thing that he did affected.”
Pearlman was sentenced to 25 years in prison in 2008 for a Ponzi scheme that swindled 1,700 people out of more than $300M, The Daily Beast reports. He died in 2016 from cardiac arrest.
“If Lou didn’t feel bad, then he’s a monster,” says NSYNC’s Chris Kirkpatrick.
Catch the trailer below:
