Backstreet Boys member AJ McLean believes his bandmates were right to not ink a deal with Shaquille O'Neal during the group's early years.
In the mid-1990s to early 2000s, the boyband reigned the charts with several albums before going on a five-year hiatus. During Backstreet's early years, they shared a recording studio in Orlando, Florida, at the home of Shaquille O'Neal, who had a successful stint as a rapper while in the NBA.
Talking to TMZ this week, McLean said Shaq was eager to sign the group but that "nothing ever came" from the group's discussions with Shaq about signing to him. He said he believes BSB wouldn't have been a right fit on the roster of the former Orlando Magic star.
The singer also recalled seeing Shaq wearing flip-flops and seeing his toenails painted red, which he called the "catalyst" for him to "feel strong enough in my manliness to paint my nails."
On declining to join Shaq's now-defunct record label, T.W.Is.M. (The World Is Mine), McLean said he doesn't know what the outcome would have been.
"No disrespect to Shaq because I love him to death, but I don't think we'd be
where we are today necessarily," McLean said. "But who knows? The man is great at business."
In 2021, Shaq revealed on Jimmy Kimmel Live that both Backstreet and NSYNC used his home studio for $25 an hour, but he missed the opportunity to sign both boy bands.
In an interview with TMZ a few years before, NSYNC member Lance Bass also credited Shaq with having a "hand" in the group's creation.
"We lived in Orlando and our first place that we recorded at was his house so all of our first demos, our songs are all from Shaq's house," Bass told the outlet.