Lance Bass has been getting a lot of bad press since he moved to New York City for a role in “Hairspray.” He gave an interview to New York Magazine, and they did a tiny little write-up as a result, mentioning that Bass wasn’t in love with the city, especially the real estate market. He’s also had many mentions on local blogs since moving here, all of which have stated that he’s been rude to fans.

“Lance Bass is here for a few months to star as Corny Collins in Hairspray. He’s not sure he likes New York so much. First off, it took three weeks, and three brokers, to find an apartment. ‘There’s a lot of pieces of crap here for a lot of money,’ he says. ‘And I don’t think anyone here has any style. I was looking at fully furnished places and it was like, you can either have a bunch of floral prints or some dusty couch from the 1960s.’ But he’s adapting. ‘My walking pace has picked up a lot,’ he says. ‘And apparently I’m ruder. I read that someone met me at a club and told me I looked great and I was like, “Don’t even think about taking a picture.” Which really sounds like me. And then they printed a picture they’d taken of me, which makes even less sense.’ He’s not hanging out at fellow ’N Sync alum Justin Timberlake’s barbecue joint. ‘I’ve been a few times,’ he says. ‘But it’s really up there. The Upper East Side? I’m not in college anymore.’ And, after coming out of the closet not so long ago, he has another startling admission to make: ‘I was the worst dancer in the band. I kind of hate to dance.’”

[From New York Magazine]

Lance didn’t like the quotes, and fired back on his MySpace page, along with issuing a statement to a few press agencies. That’s not really helping his image as a control freak. He’s now saying he “loves New York” and is really pissed by the “fake quotes” – saying the reporter, Jada Yuan, put “words in my mouth.” Oh his MySpace page [http://www.myspace.com/basslance], Lance wrote, “This dumb reporter just put words in my mouth and turned everything I said into a negative. I told her I love NY and I will probably be doing the bi-coastal thing now because I love it so much.” He responded to the quotes in an article in People today.

“As for what exactly got him so worked up, here’s a breakdown:

The claim: It took him three weeks to find an apartment. “There’s a lot of pieces of crap here for a lot of money,” he was quoted as saying. “And I don’t think anyone here has any style.”

His response? “I told her the first few apts I looked at were pieces of crap and the owners had no style at all… that turned into ‘Lance thinks New Yorkers have no style!'”

The claim: He’s not hanging out at fellow ‘N Sync alum Justin Timberlake’s barbecue joint. “I’ve been a few times,” he says. “But it’s really up there. The Upper East Side? I’m not in college anymore.”

His response? “I eat at Justins [sic] new place all the time, but it is really far away in the upper east side and always full of a college crowd. She turned that into ‘Lance doesnt [sic] go to Justins [sic] restaurant cause its too far away and he doesnt [sic] like it because he is not in college anymore!’ Um.. I didnt [sic] go to college, why the hell would I say that!”

[From People]

New York Magazine is highly respected. You can never know what an individual journalist will do, but they’re part of the New York Times – it’s not some freebie you pick up from a bin. They do a great job at deeply researched, in-depth pieces – along with the occasional New York entertainment related puff piece, like the article about Bass. They issued a rebuttal that was pretty funny for such a serious magazine. And they reiterate that Bass was a terrible dancer.

“We were going to be nice about this, because we’re actually quite fond of Bass, but then we heard that he called Ms. Yuan a dumb reporter on MySpace. So we invite Bass to breath deeply, stop reading Perez Hilton (who posted the story on his own site under the typically over-the-top headline, ‘Lance Bass Hates New York City’), and take some lessons in reading comprehension. Bass’s beef boils down to two points — he says he didn’t say New Yorkers have no style, and he does go to Justin Timberlake’s restaurant. Oh, and he really loves New York!

“New York would like to make the following points: (1) We stand by the interview; Bass was not misquoted. (2) Bass is not quoted as saying New Yorkers have no style — it’s clear that he’s referring to the apartments he looked at. (3) The piece also does not suggest that Bass doesn’t hang out at Justin Timberlake’s restaurant. In fact, it specifically quotes him as saying he goes there. (4) Though Bass’s quote about his dancing ability (“I was the worst dancer in the band”) has not been called into question, we’d like to reiterate that Bass was, indeed, the worst dancer in ‘N Sync. (5) Bass now says he’s going bi-coastal; he never mentioned that to us, but we’re glad to hear it! Welcome to New York, Lance.”

[From New York Magazine]

I don’t think pissing off a bunch of New Yorkers is a good way to get started. I live in New York, and these are scary, scary people. They will kick you in the head as soon as look at you, and if you dare to smile at one, they will glare and snarl “What the f*$) is wrong wit chu?” This happened to me yesterday. And last week. And sixteen other times. Now I don’t smile anymore. And I don’t even have some upside-down looking face like Lance Bass, so I can only imagine what could happen to him.

Picture note by JayBird: Here’s Lance at the I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry Premiere on 07/12/2007. Header image of Lance at the Hairspray New York City Premiere on 7/16/2007. Images thanks to PR Photos.