(Credit: Robert E. Klein/Getty Images)
After years of attracting throngs of screaming girls during his teen days, Jonathan Knight now joins the ever-growing band of boy banders who like boys -- including founding members *NSYNC's Lance Bass and Menudo's Ricky Martin -- by confirming publicly that he is gay. Many Jon Girls (girls whose favorite New Kids on the Block member was Jonathan Knight back in the '80s, during the band's original run) speculated as to whether Jonathan was really like "Please DO go girl" when he was crooning "Please DON'T go girl." One famous former Jon Girl in particular (perhaps THE most famous Jon Girl), Tiffany, unwittingly kinda outed the New Kids On The Block member in an interview on Bravo's "Watch What Happens Live." A week after the interview, Jonathan posted a blog in the members-only section of the New Kids on the Block website, confirming his sexual orientation for the first time publicly but claimed he had actually privately revealed he was gay "almost 20 years ago."
Tiffany told Bravo host Andy Cohen that her ex "became gay later." "Now looking back when we were dating," Tiffany said, "he was so much fun. We used to do facials together. He was so easy to talk to… And he was fabulous." Tiffany later apologized for outing Jonathan on Twitter: "Really didn't know that was the wrong thing to say... Never meant to hurt Jon."
Replied a good-natured Jonathan, "Tiff, please don't lose any sleep over it! I know you weren't being mean, and I found it to be funny!"
We applaud Jonathan Knight for being open with the public about his sexuality after so many years. But we're still not retiring our oversize Jon pin before the NKOTBBSB tour this summer. And memo to Backstreet Boy A.J. McLean: While Jon's coming out, we're glad that you're going IN -- to rehab to get some help. We look forward to seeing both groups back in action come June!