Chris Kirkpatrick

Michael Musto dishes with the *NSYNC member about his new fashion line, Michael Jackson, and whether any of his band mates are gay. The oldest and perhaps wisest *NSYNC member, 28-year-old Chris Kirkpatrick, is savvy enough not to rest on his laurels as part of 2000's number one music act, whose new album, Celebrity, is due out July 24. The affable boy-grouper has turned entrepreneur with FuMan Skeeto, his line of T-shirts and sweatshirts influenced by skateboard culture and Japanese animation. Ain't no lie-so buy, buy, buy!

Musto: So now you've got a fashion line. What are you, the new Puffy?

Kirkpatrick: I don't think he's really designing that stuff. I know I'm not really designing mine. If you think I know what a woman's halter-top feels like...

I do!!

Exactly. You can give me some tips. But you might be different from the girls who buy it. "Michael says it's a little snug in the hips."

Please! I'm a size 4! Anyway, are you branching out because you're a smart guy?

It seemed like something to do. I know what I like to wear. It makes sense that if I can do my own line, I should do it.

Do I smell a solo career in the making?

No, not really. We all have the group's best interests at heart. But I think my individuality's strong enough that I need a lot of different side things to fulfill it.

I know. I used to love that sort of Spacedog hairdo you once had.

It was some outlandish braidy thingy. It stuck us out a little bit. But I've moved on. I'm now into something more mature: purple hair.

All right, let's get down to business. How many *NSYNCers are gay? Four? Five?

Honestly, I couldn't even answer that. I don't think any of them, but it's not something we talk about. "Good riff-are you gay?" If any of the guys are gay, that's their own personal thing. I don't make a big deal either way.

Yay! So there still might be a potential husband in there for me?

Possibly. I wouldn't rule it out.

You have lots of gay male fans. Do they come up to you?

Like hit on me?

No, just approach you.

Of course. We do meet-and-greets. We meet a lot of gay fans, and they're cool. A lot of times they're more flamboyant [than the girls] and very funny.

What do you think of gay stars who publicly come out?

I'm not going to knock anybody for their sexuality or what they believe in. We're all just people trying to figure out what we're doing on this planet.

What are the Backstreet Boys doing on this planet? No, wait-how many of them are gay?

That's another one I couldn't answer. If I hung with them, I'd know, but I don't.

Like, oh, my God, I thought the animosity was dying down.

I don't know if it's dying down, but they're always looking for controversy, and now they're kind of tired of it.

Don't you think the boy-band market's way over saturated already?

The only thing I had a problem with was O-Town-not them personally, but the whole setup, the way they made everything seem so hokey. I watched the marathon-for a second. Hokey! That show tried to make it look like this is how things really are.

Speaking of heightened reality, I saw you on TV with Michael Jackson.

He said he can now call us his friends. I was freaking, because that's f*@#ing Michael Jackson!p> Don't mention f*@#ing Michael Jackson. Has he gotten a bad rap?

The only bad rap he got was in "Black or White"-Macaulay Culkin did that rap. Bad joke. Anyway, people want to point fingers, but he's just an eccentric person. He likes weird things. Michael's on a plane that nobody really gets. He's so up there that he's above people.

Keep me off that plane! What's your take on the Elton John -Eminem lovefest?

To each his own. I don't know who came up with that [duet] or what they were trying to achieve, but hey, I'm a music fan-though I think Dido sounded better on the album.

Your biggest controversy is probably that "ain't no lie" is grammatically incorrect.

I don't think music is about grammar.

It ain't?

It would be funny if people said, "*NSYNC is so awful-they have bad grammar, they stay up after their bedtimes, and the ones over 21 drink alcohol." Yeah, we're evil, rotten to the core! Once I got a box of cereal and went straight to the prize-I don't wait for it to fall into the bowl!

You heathen! Bye, bye, bye!