After warnings about music executive Lou Pearlman, O-Town’s Ashley Parker Angel was conflicted. He knew Lou could take the Making the Band group famous, but heard disturbing feedback about him.
Lou was key in forming the boy band O-Town in season one of the reality show Making the Band. Ashley provides insight about his experiences in the documentary Boy Band Confidential: A Hollywood Demons Event’s two-part finale.
Lou Pearlman allegedly offered Ashley Parker Angel a massage
Ashley was leery after being warned not to be alone with Lou, which was revealed in a clip of the show shared with People. “People are pulling you aside and saying, ‘Hey, don’t be alone with Lou. Don’t go into a hotel room alone with Lou,” he said.
One time, Ashley was alone in a hotel room with Lou after he asked to have a conversation. Instead, he offered the boy band member a massage. “We were out on the road with O-Town and I went into his room and he’s like, ‘Take off your shirt,’ ” he recalled in the documentary. Lou said he could “give his muscles a pump, in the same way as if you actually worked out and lifted weights … just by massaging you.”
After Lou asked Ashley to “lay down on the couch and let me massage your muscles,” he reluctantly agreed. “And then Lou’s giving you this intense massage. It’s getting really uncomfortable,” Ashley said.
He recalls the encounter felt “abusive and predatory,” before his manager saved him. “He’s like, ‘Where are you? You’re not in Lou’s room, are you?’ And I was like, ‘I am.’ And he’s like, ‘Get out of there. Don’t be alone in Lou’s room,” Ashley recounted.
The documentary reveals Ashley as one of several boy band members warned about Lou’s behavior.
The two-part finale of Boy Band Confidential: A Hollywood Demons Event airs tonight at 9 ET/8 CT on ID and streams on HBO Max.
TELL US – WHY WASN’T LOU HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR HIS BEHAVIOR?
