My cousin got me a new shirt pic.twitter.com/DuHhgRto7b
— JoJo Siwa!🌈❤️🎀 (@itsjojosiwa) January 22, 2021
Over the weekend, 17-year-old JoJo Siwa made a big announcement by posting the photo above to her social media. As she’d intended, her fans accepted this as JoJo’s coming out. And the news was met with a great deal of joy, which is nice to hear because she is a teenager and sometimes the outcomes of these stories can go in a very different way. But not this one. The old adage of you get back what you put out in the world worked in JoJo’s favor because she was so overwhelmed by the support, she filmed a video for her fans telling them how incredibly happy she was to live her life openly and how much their love and support means to her.
JoJo Siwa is happier than ever before. The 17-year-old star took to Instagram on Saturday to thank her followers for “the most endless amount of love and support” after coming out.
“I am really, really, happy! And now that the world gets to see this side of my life, it makes me really really happy,” she expressed in her 15-minute video. “Now that I got to share that with the world, it’s awesome…I want people to know that there is so much love in the world and it is so incredible!”
She noted that her career has always made her “super happy,” but that “personally” she’s never felt happier.
“Somebody said, ‘What label are you?’ And you know, I have thought about this and the reason I am not ready to say this answer is because I really don’t know this answer,” Siwa shared. “I think humans are awesome. I think humans are really incredible people.”
“I want to share everything with the world, I really do. But I also want to keep things in my life private until they’re ready to be public,” she added. “What matters is that you guys know that no matter who you love, that it’s OK and that it’s awesome, and that the world is there for you.”
The singer and dancer added that she knows that it might be harder for other people to come out, but she said, from experience, that coming out is so much easier these days.
“It’s been 48 hours of the world knowing, right? I think so. It’s been the best 48 hours,” she said, touching on her “Best Gay Cousin Ever” shirt and revealing TikTok from earlier in the week. “Last night I laid in bed and was like, ‘Whoa, this is really awesome. I am so happy’….I’ve never been so happy.”
You can watch JoJo entire 15-minute video here. It is, quite possibly, the most enthusiastic thing I have ever experienced. I know of JoJo, but this is the first time I ever heard her speak. Her optimism is infectious. She’s incapable of doing anything other than conveying how incredible she feels in this moment and my gawd, that must be a glorious feeling. I like that JoJo differentiated that her career has always made her happy, but this is the happiest she has ever been in her personal life. Again, with my limited knowledge of JoJo, her performance persona seems to be very bubbly and optimistic and it’s nice to know that’s not an act. The other thing I am glad she touched on was not labeling herself until she was ready. I’ve found that in the younger LBGTQ community (I don’t know how it is in the older community) once a pre-teen or teen comes out, there is some pressure to identify and the individual may not know their label yet. It’s, unfortunately, another form of pressure that a young person doesn’t need. So I appreciate JoJo emphasizing that labels don’t need to happen right away.
Unfortunately, not everyone was wonderful as JoJo’s fans. She said that her family was swatted right after she made her announcement. Swatting is when someone calls in a bogus claim and the police send a tactical team to your home, demanding you to exit the building. Once the members of the home file out onto the front lawn, the media, most commonly the paparazzi, swarm from their hiding places and get shots for their seedy outlets. JoJo was incredibly forgiving, saying she wished they hadn’t wasted the policemen’s time. She also pointed out, if they had just been patient, she would have eventually left her house anyway. And this is why JoJo is a much better role model than me, because my response would have involved bananas in tailpipes.
Photo credit: Twitter and Instagram
Bananas rolled in vanilla icing and rainbow sprinkles, you mean.
I have seen her name for years without knowing who she is/what she does. I saw “JoJo Siwa coming out” trending over the weekend so had a look, and it makes me very happy that she’s find a way to announced it the way she wanted to.
Also, is swatting a common practice used by paparazzi?? This sounds illegal and I genuinely hope no outlet, printed or online, will use the pictures resulting from this event. It’s disgusting
I know of her because my granddaughters are obsessed with her hair bows. I have bought them Jojo bows, magazines, school supplies, and more bows. However, until I watched that video I didn’t know how perfectly her brand expresses who she is; happy, colorful, wonderful to her fans.
So someone swatted her which is incredibly dangerous. They need to start handing out attempted murder charges to these swatting pranksters.
I agree. This is not OK to be doing this and potentially very damaging, traumatizing to the people in the house. They should be charged.
20 years in federal prison for a swatter, a cop killed the kid who opened the door when the swat team showed up. Happened in 2017 in Wichita Ks.
My kids like Jojo’s music so she is a household name for me. My older child (elementary aged) was just asking questions about sexual orientation and same sex marriage, and I was so pleased to be able to mention one of our favorite pop stars had just come out! I wish her nothing but happiness.
Same – my 5 year old and her kindergarten classmates are obsessed with her. I was wondering if she would understand this news and I figured I’d give it a shot and she definitely didn’t get it as she’s still at the age where she wants to marry her brother, the cat, me, etc.
my 4 year old always wants to marry her daddy!!! we just laugh it off for now!! hahaha
My kids aren’t fans of hers but my small feet are in love with her glitter shoes and I proudly wear JoJo’s sparkle my and bowed sneakers. I’m really happy her coming out was so widely embraced by her fam base.
She looks 12, 13 tops.
My daughter is 5, and JoJo Siwa is BIG in her classroom. She’s never actually heard her sing (as far as I know), but any big hair bow is called a “Jojo siwa bow” and she wanted a JoJo Siwa watch for Christmas. She seems like a sweet, shockingly well-adjusted star. Good for her and I’m glad she’s happy!
My 8 year old niece LOVES her. She wanted to put herself in a box and mail herself to JoJo.
JoJo might be the happiest person alive and the world would be a better place if more of us were this happy.
Lol mail herself, too sweet!
The first time I saw Jojo was on Dance Mom’s about a million years ago. She was in Abby’s competition team for a hot minute and is actually a very gifted dancer. I didn’t realize that she sings and has built what looks to be a tween empire of glitter products, so good for her! She was always super sweet and optimistic on that train wreck of a show so I’m glad she’s living a happy life. That swatting business though… so scary and illegal. I’m glad her and her family came away unscathed.
I’m so happy for her. In addition to living as her true self, I think it’s an incredible gift she has given her fans by allowing them to see her as an LGBTQ role model.
I’ve been keeping tabs on JoJo for a couple years just because she has that ‘next generation it girl’ -vibe and I wanted to see what was going to happen. I was so happy to see such an influential star come out so openly and make a big deal to not be vague but instead be very clear about what was happening, especially for her very young fanbase. I think it’s a really positive thing
I’m so happy for JoJo!!
Pre Covid I took my daughter (who was 7 at the time) to see JoJo. We had a blast. JoJo is the real deal: she is committed to doing the work it takes to actually perform live. She sings, plays piano, and dances and roller skates up ramps then runs down them! She is always posting positive fun kind videos or posting videos praising other artists as she dances to their music. She is a teenager coming into her own in real time.
I remember one of my closest friends in high school being afraid – it was the 90s- to come out
Seeing JoJo so bold and confident is thrilling. I’m so hopeful for Greta Thunberg and JoJo Siwa’s generation!
My daughter is almost 9 and she is growing up in a world of endless possibilities with brave strong role models. I’m excited for the future when I think about all these great women!
I don’t know her work as it sounds like it’s for kids, but if she is a force of optimism and positivity and inclusion – awesome. Kids need as much of that as they can get.
And good for her for coming out and being happy and proud of herself and her life.
Omg who is she? She’s adorable!
Having grown up in a time with very few queer role models, this makes me so excited for the generation that looks up to her! I wish my generation had the same representation and normalcy that gen z has
I wasn’t a fan of hers until I took my 7 year old to her concert PRE-pandemic. She was so incredibly authentic, happy, positive. An honest to goodness role model. This makes her even more so, in my opinion. Can’t wait to see what the future holds for her.