Entertainment worlds collided in South Beach over the weekend when former NSYNC member — Joey Fatone — crashed a drag brunch when the performers started lip-syncing to NYSNC’s classic pop hit, “Bye Bye Bye.”
Fatone, 45, was in Miami for a bachelor party and stopped by the Palace, a drag bar in South Beach when drag queens Tiffany Fantasia and Elishaly D’Witshes began lip-syncing to the popular NSYNC song. In 2001, “Bye Bye Bye” peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was nominated for Record of the Year at the 2001 Grammy Awards. In my humble opinion, the song is still fire in 2022.
The former boy band member took the drag queens’ song choice as an opportunity to crash the stage, grab a mic, and start actually singing the song.
The best part? He even broke out the song’s now-iconic choreography with those very infamous waves. As the song continued, Fantasia and D’witshes started dancing along with Fatone guiding them through it with each move.
“WHAT A WEEKEND ITS BEEN ALREADY!!” the Palace wrote in the caption of an Instagram video capturing the impromptu performance. “We had the honor of being visited by *NSYNC’s own Joey Fatone, who joined us and sang one of their biggest hits with our queens for our visitors. You never know who’s going to attend our shows!”
Fatone has long been an ally of the LGBTQ+ community. Fellow boy band member Lance Bass recalled to Us Weekly that Fatone was the first person he came out to — by accident. Fatone walked in on Bass while his boyfriend was on his lap.
“He was like, ‘Dude, I don’t care.’ I’m like, ‘Surprise!'” Bass said. “Joey was just like, ‘Dude, I don’t care. I have so many gay friends — I don’t care.’“
Welp, you have to guess that after blowing it up at drag brunch, he has even more gay friends now.
Bass is now the godfather to Fatone’s two daughters, who are 21 and 12.
This is not the first time that Fatone has shocked a crowd. In 2019, he competed as “Rabbit” on the Masked Singer and tied Rumer Willis for fourth place.
He told PEOPLE at the time that his appearance on the show surprised people, reminding them of his talent, with some people even suggesting that he launch a solo career.
“People are like, ‘I didn’t know you had the voice and chops. You should do an album,’” he said. “I’m like, ‘Eh, It’d be fun to do one.’ It’s not my forte in the sense of doing a solo career.”
If Fatone isn’t interested in doing a solo album, I think NSYNC fans will be just as happy with more surprise drag brunch performances to classic hits from the early 00s. Backstreet Boys next, please!
