BEASTLY BOYS

Boy Bands Gone Wild: Our Favorite Scandals

Jealousy, revenge, (allegedly) murderous behavior in a Beverly Hills mansion… The story we reported last week about Mexican pop star and former RBD boy band member Christian Chavez (pictured) reads like an episode of an awesome telenovela. How appropriate then, because that’s how Chavez got his start back in 2005, when he and five co-stars on the super-popular comedia Rebelde start a boy band and then in real life start a boy band and go on to become one of the biggest boy bands of all time, selling more tickets at one venue (500,000) than the Rolling Stones. That big.

And like any great telenovela, we don’t want this one to end. On the following pages we list boy band/telenovela commonalities to ponder while we wait for the next chapter in Chavez’s “story.”

Beware the creeper uncle

Lou Pearlman was the man behind two of the biggest boy bands ever, N’ Sync (pictured) and the Backstreet Boys. But it turns out Pearlman had his hands in more pockets than you might suspect, defrauding investors of over $300 million. Authorities found him hiding out in a Bali hotel under an assumed name in 2007 and now he’s serving 25 years for conspiracy and money laundering. ‘Cause that money was dirty, like this creeper also accused of some molesty behavior with his boy-charges.

Both have lots of raging she-banshees

In the infamous One Direction (pictured)/The Wanted boy band rivalry, The Wanted has something Harry and crew don’t: Lindsay Lohan. That LiLo arrest last November was fallout from a long-simmering crush on Wanted singer Max George, who accompanied La Lohan to a club after she watched the band open for Justin Bieber at Madison Square Garden. Wags say Lindsay got too lit for Max’s taste, so he started looking for other action, and the other action got punched in the face. Escandalo!

There’s a girl who turns guys gay, and somebody’s trying to make money off having sex with you

In 2009, the National Enquirer broke the open secret New Kid on the Block Jonathan Knight (pictured) was gay, based on photos provided by one Kyle Wilker, who says he enjoyed 18 months with the second cutest NKOTB. Says the Brazilian ex: “We had a wonderful relationship. I was in love with him and I believe he was in love with me.” You gotta believe, Kyle. Oh, and Knight realized he “preferred guys to girls” after dating Tiffany. Who doesn’t love headline grabbing unsubstantiated quotes and gold-digging ex-boyfriends!

Somebody’s getting arrested for a good cause

There were a couple of other guys in Cincinnati-based 98 Degrees (pictured) besides Drew and Nick Lachey. One was Justin Jeffre (we don’t remember the other guy), who was arrested a couple of years back at an Occupy Wall Street protest in the ‘Nati. Perez Hilton was outraged! We like that Justin is keeping it real, and keeping it local.

Somebody’s dancing naked in a public place

In 2009, the arrest of Tsuyoshi Kusanagi (pictured), a member of the Japanese boy band SMAP, sparked international outrage and a popular meme after the singer was found dancing drunk and naked in a Tokyo park. His response when confronted by police, “What’s wrong with being naked?” became an instant online sensation. Kusanagi later told police, “I don’t remember how I went to the park, and why I became naked,” an eerily familiar explanation to many of us.

Somebody’s getting arrested for the wrong reason

Another Level was a Brit R&B boy band big in the late ‘90’s. Remember “Freak Me” and those guys who opened for Janet Jackson on her European tour in 1999? That was them. Front man Dane Bowers (pictured, far right) went on to a DJ career and some trouble with the bobbies, eh what? In April 2012, Bowers was arrested on a charge of conspiracy to commit a sexual assault after a woman claimed she was attacked in a hotel room, though the charges were later dropped. And last month Bowers was charged with two counts of assault by beating after a confrontation at the Butlins holiday resort in the UK. So British! Bowers was headlining a “90’s Night” and had earlier tweeted: “I had the whole club doing the Butlins Harlem Shake!!!!! Gonna post the video on YouTube…” Well if there was ever a reason to get arrested…

Somebody’s getting outed

Irish boy band Boyzone front man Stephen Gately (above) was smoked out of the closet in 1999 when he discovered someone was about to sell his story to a tabloid. Gately became a popular champion of gay rights, eventually entering a civil union with Andrew Cowles, an Internet businessman introduced by mutual friends Elton John and David Furnish. Tragically, Gately died at 33 from an undiagnosed heart condition, soon after Boyzone reunited in 2008.

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