\n<\/p>\n
Pearlman was never prosecuted for any sex crimes, and in a 2014\u00a0jailhouse interview<\/a>\u00a0with Billboard<\/em> magazine, he denied that he had committed any. \u201cThe accusations that came out in that article, none of it was substantiated,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n In 2015, the Backstreet Boys\u2014including Carter\u2014shared their conflicted feelings about the man who minted their band, but stole from it too. \u201cWe\u2019re appreciative [for] what he had done for us, and thankful, to a certain degree, and to a large degree, because he gave us our shot,\u201d Carter said in a group interview with The Seven Sees<\/a>. \u201cThese are hard things to experience, when someone that you look up to, sort of as a family figure or a mentor, does something that\u2019s just so astronomically crazy, just something that you would never think that they would do. Then you hear these stories. It\u2019s just a sad story in the end, not just for us or him, but for the people that he hurt. So there\u2019s a lot of conflict internally about how we feel.\u201d<\/p>\n In 2020, Nick Carter\u2019s younger brother Aaron, who also signed<\/a> with Pearlman as a child, was asked directly whether Pearlman ever behaved inappropriately around him. \u201cLou never did anything weird,\u201d Carter told<\/a> a YouTube interviewer, before revealing he was a survivor of sexual assault\u2014just not by the manager. \u201cI\u2019ve known Lou since I was a little child, man. Nothing. He was a big poppa bear, he\u2019s like a a Santa Claus.\u201d As for the financial crimes, Carter said matter-of-factly, \u201cI don\u2019t blame him. Why not? He put all his money and time, invested everything into that group, and gave them their careers that they still have today. I\u2019m not going to be the one that\u2019s gonna be like, [in whiny, complaint voice<\/em>] \u2018Oh yeah, Lou Pearlman\u2019s\u2026\u2019 No.\u201d<\/p>\n Dirty Pop<\/em> gauzily addresses some sexual impropriety claims. Kirkpatrick recalls Pearlman urging him and his fellow \u2019NSync band members to stay in shape, grabbing their arms, and asking to peek at their abs. Tammie Hilton,<\/strong> a nurse that Pearlman befriended, recalls how she was surprised when Pearlman introduced her as his girlfriend at a social gathering. \u201cI think he was trying to force himself to be in some kind of boyfriend-girlfriend-type relationship,\u201d she says, thinking back to the one time they kissed and \u201cthere was no spark at all.\u201d Asked why she thinks Pearlman introduced her as his girlfriend, Hilton answers, \u201cHe knew that everybody already thought that he was either some kind of child molester or pedophile or something. I never saw that.\u201d After a few minutes of discussion in Dirty Pop<\/em>\u2019s second episode, the conversation moves on. There is little talk of the emotional wreckage Pearlman may have left behind.<\/p>\n Perhaps that is because the late manager\u2019s most outspoken accuser, Rich Cronin, lead singer and songwriter of LFO, died in 2010 from a stroke while battling leukemia. The year before his death, Cronin relayed<\/a> his claims<\/a> to Howard Stern.<\/strong> Asked whether the manager touched him inappropriately, Cronin said, \u201cEventually he did.\u2026 There were a lot of guys that did go for it. And if they went for it, he took care of \u2019em. He\u2019d buy \u2019em cars.\u201d He added, \u201cI had to go through lots of therapy. I went crazy.\u2026 I mean, the guy was awful. Besides all this money stuff, he was really a creepy guy.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n