Quit playing games with our hearts! Former teenyboppers everywhere were thrilled when word got out on Saturday, Feb. 14, that members from ‘N Sync and the Backstreet Boys would be attending the star-studded SNL 40th Anniversary Special. But that thrill turned to disappointment when the three-and-a-half-hour episode came and went with nary a glimpse of the boy-banders — save Justin Timberlake, who opened the show with Jimmy Fallon.
As ‘N Sync alum Lance Bass tweeted earlier in the day, however, he and his former bandmates — Timberlake, Joey Fatone, Chris Kirkpatrick, and JC Chasez — never had any intention of actually performing on or participating in the show.
For the record , we are not performing or doing a skit tonight on SNL. But look hard for us in he audience! Fun night ahead! #SNL40
— Lance Bass (@LanceBass) February 15, 2015
Despite their lack of screen time, most of the quintet was present and accounted for. Fatone and Kirkpatrick posed together on the red carpet, while Bass mugged for the camera by himself (and later with former SNL cast member Cheri Oteri).
Three of the singers — Fatone, Kirkpatrick, and five-time SNL host Timberlake — also hung out together at the afterparty. An onlooker tells Us Weekly they were “hysterically laughing for hours” and “looked like they were having an amazing time.”
As for BSB? Band member A.J. McLean was in the audience with Howie Dorough, who tweeted up a storm before and after the show. “On our way to NYC for the SNL 40th Anniversary special tonight. Very honored to be asked to come,” he tweeted. Later, sharing a photo of himself and McLean in the audience at Studio 8H, he added that he’d met some of his “biggest idols in the industry.”
At one point in the night, he and McLean even posed for a photo with former ’90s rivals Kirkpatrick and Fatone.
The boys are back in town! pic.twitter.com/5NwH5I5iny
— Chris Kirkpatrick (@IamCKirkpatrick) February 16, 2015
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