'He was always nice to me, even when he was stealing from me': Conflicted tributes for NSYNC creator Lou Pearlman

'Rip Lou not the best business guy really at all but he did discover me karma is real'

Pearlman played a key role in the boyband boom of the nineties (Getty)

It had long been deemed inappropriate to speak ill of the dead, with all but the most unequivocally evil public figures attracting generous eulogies upon their passing.

But the death of Lou Pearlman, creator of Backstreet Boys and NSYNC, has offered an intriguing illustration of how social media has changed conventions surrounding reaction to the end of a notable person's life.

The record producer and manager died in prison on Friday while serving a 25-year sentence for fraud, aged 62.

Pearlman was convicted of fraud for running a £230 million Ponzi scheme through his Trans Continental companies. He fled to Indonesia but was captured by the authorities in 2007 after pleading guilty to charges of money laundering, conspiracy and fraud and sentenced to 25 years in prison in 2008.

During his life, the music mogul was sued by every act he represented but one.

And news of his death prompted a bizarre series of conflicted, lukewarm and even scathing responses on social media, from those he worked with to fans of artists he managed.

A member of O-Town, a boyband signed to his label, Jacob Underwood, tweeted: “Hard to describe what I'm feeling.. He was always nice to me, even when he was stealing from me. RIP.”

"Word is that #LouPearlman has passed away. He might not have been a stand up businessman, but I wouldn't be doing what I love today wout his influence. RIP Lou," Nsync singer Lance Bass wrote.

Child star Aaron Carter paid his own vaguely enigmatic tribute, saying: “£LouPearlman my old manager died in prison... Rip Lou not the best business guy really at all but he did discover me karma is real."

Meanwhile, outspoken celebrity blogger Perez Hilton was less balanced in his response.

“He died behind bars, where he belonged," he said.

"Defrauded so many."

“Lou Pearlman is dead. I interviewed this brilliant, complex and criminally greedy man from prison in 2014,” wrote journalist Seth Abramovitch.

“Omg Lou Pearlman died! He may of been an evil man, but he put together the most amazing boy of all time... The,” wrote Twitter user Karla Louise.

“I don't wanna honour him, but w/o him I wouldn't have some of the most formative music of my teens,” added another.

Pearlman played a key role in the boyband boom of the nineties, founding the best-selling boy band of all time, the Backstreet Boys in Florida in 1993.