Boy-Band Svengali Even Sleazier Than Previously Thought

noah | October 2, 2007 9:01 am
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The upcoming issue of Vanity Fair will take a look at the predilections of disgraced boy-band maestro Lou Pearlman–currently cooling his jets in a Florida jail while awaiting a trial on bank fraud charges–and you may be shocked to hear that his interests in young men went beyond their abilities to sing, dance, and make the little girls cry. In addition to allegations that he was “definitely inappropriate” with the Backstreet Boys’ Nick Carter and a description of his clumsy pickup techniques (one person recalls him spreading his legs while wearing a white terrycloth robe and matching underwear, then uttering the not-quite-Mae-Westian come-on “You’re a smart boy. Figure it out.”), ex-members of lesser boy-band lights recall events that echo the very special Gordon Jump episode of Diff’rent Strokes:

Tim Christofore, a member of Take 5, recalls that during a sleepover at Pearlman’s house, the music czar swan-dived onto his and another boy’s bed and wrestled with them wearing only in a towel, which came off. “We were like, ‘Ooh, Lou, that’s gross.’ What did I know? I was 13,” Christofore told Vanity Fair.

Rich Cronin, lead singer of LFO, recalled Pearlman told him of an “ancient massage technique that if I massage you and we bond in a certain way, it will strengthen your aura.”

“Strengthen your aura”? Wow. With sub-singles-bar persuasion techniques like that, you’d think that people would have been a little more skeptical of Pearlman’s make-money-fast schemes.

SLEAZEBALL BEHIND BOY BANDS [Page Six]