Andy Cohen tried his darndest to dig up some juicy details about the Backstreet Boys’ rivalry with ‘NSync when BSB stopped by Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen, but they would not budge.
“What do you think about Justin [Timberlake] seeming kind of not into doing anything with the ‘NSync guys?” the Bravo host, 51, asked Nick Carter, Kevin Richardson, AJ McLean, Howie Dorough and Brian Littrell on Tuesday, February 11. “If you guys were in ‘NSync, how would you feel about what’s going on there? Because they seem to want to tour.”
Carter, 40, immediately laughed and said, “That’s a loaded question!”
However, Dorough, 46, and McLean, 42, agreed that JC Chasez, Lance Bass, Joey Fatone and Chris Kirkpatrick “should do it” without Timberlake, 39
Richardson, 48, chimed in, “Obviously it would be massive if they all went out [on tour]. I mean, I don’t know. I think [Timberlake] has things as far as acting career and things that he wants to do. But he’s accomplished pretty much everything you can as a solo artist, so I think someday it’s gonna happen. Just don’t know when.”
Carter then suggested a possible tour featuring both boy bands, similar to BSB’s 2011 to 2012 trek with New Kids on the Block.
“Maybe in the future after we’re done with our [DNA] world tour,” he said. “Maybe we could do a tour with Backstreet and the four of them. Maybe like a package tour together.”
A viewer also called into the late-night show to ask the Backstreet Boys about ‘NSync, which prompted Richardson to set the record straight.
“Look, the thing with us and ‘NSync was, we were brothers,” he said. “We were just on different teams. It was healthy competition.”
Littrell, 44, then interjected, “I’m just gonna be all honest: When we said ‘no’ to things, they got the ‘yes.’ So, you’re talking about nine years of busting our butts, working and traveling the world. And then when ‘NSync came along, if we said ‘no’ to something, it was kind of threatened to us, ‘Hey, you know, somebody will say ‘yes.’’ And that’s how it happened.”
Richardson confirmed that there was some “leveraging” between the bands’ managers at the time, but he insisted, “It was all love between us individually.”
Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen airs on Bravo Sundays through Thursdays at 11 p.m. ET.
