Lance Bass teases Justin Timberlake with ‘It’s Gonna Be May’ meme, an NSYNC admirer most loved

Lance Bass is joining in on the “It’s Gonna Be May” Day festivities.

The NSYNC alum posted a TikTok poking entertaining Tuesday at his former bandmate Justin Timberlake, whose mispronunciation of the word “me” in the 2000 hit “It’s Gonna Be Me” birthed a meme which is now 12 a long time previous.

In the video clip, a pink-haired Bass passes a love observe to partner Michael Turchin, who is eating ramen.

“Michael, roses are red, April is gray, but when you wake up tomorrow,” Turchin reads as the infamous monitor fades in. The digital camera pans up to Bass, who now sports hair manufactured of what looks like ramen — parodying youthful Timberlake’s blond curls — and lip-syncs the notorious “May” line.

The video clip finishes with Turchin staring in confusion at his bowl, now vacant, and Bass smugly swaying to the pop melody.

“POV: your mate mispronounces a term once and now it’s a nationwide holiday getaway. Satisfied #itsgonnabemay Working day!,” Bass captioned his video clip.

A few several hours later, Timberlake rang in the holiday himself, publishing on Instagram a video clip he initially shared on TikTok in September. In it, he stitches a video clip prompt from TikTok person @umgabi, who questioned viewers, “What’s a word you pronounced improperly 1 time and it nevertheless haunts you to this working day?”

“Um, me,” Timberlake responds with a concessive nod.

(For what it’s well worth, @umgabi stated in her first TikTok that her error was with the phrase “stalemate,” which she thought was Spanish and rendered in 4 syllables instead of two. But “It’s Gonna Be STAH·leh·mah·teh” is not quite as catchy as “It’s Gonna Be May perhaps.”)

It is not the first time Timberlake has acknowledged the meme. In 2021, he paid out tribute to its originator, Kianna Davis. Back in 2012, Davis pasted a photo of the boy band’s main guy at the stop of the April web page on her wall calendar, accompanied by the terms, “It’s Gonna Be.”

“I just did it to make like 10 of my NSYNC good friends laugh, Davis advised the Athletic final 7 days. “I wasn’t attempting to go viral or everything like that.”

Nevertheless, “It’s Gonna Be May” has been created into NSYNC lore, and each 12 months delivers new meme iterations.

As for Davis, the Athletic noted that she has been highlighted on Bass’ podcast and was personally invited to a Timberlake live performance in Memphis — though she has still to meet up with the now-solo performer himself.

Maybe that is soon to improve, as she strategies to go to the Raleigh quit on the Forget about Tomorrow Earth Tour — which JT kicked off Monday in Vancouver. And Mr. May well himself posted a recap of the opening clearly show Tuesday on Instagram.