JoJo Siwa, the 17-year-old singer, dancer, actor and YouTube personality, came out as gay, after pointing it out on social media over the past few days.
Siwa first hinted at her in a TikTok video posted to her more than 31 million (and growing) followers on Thursday. In the video, she dances to ‘Born This Way’, the 2011 hit by Lady Gaga that is widely regarded as an LGBTQ national anthem. The video has more than 4.5 million likes and 25 million views, by far Siwa’s most popular video on TikTok. Out of the more than 260,000 comments on the video, several prominent YouTube influencers, such as James Charles, Colleen Ballinger, Nikkie de Jager, Bretman Rock and more, congratulated and praised her.
Siwa posted a more definitive message on Friday and shared a photo of her wearing a shirt titled “Best. Gay. Cousin. Ever.” And said her cousin got it for her.
My cousin got me a new shirt pic.twitter.com/DuHhgRto7b
– JoJo Siwa! Its️🎀 (@itsjojosiwa) 22 January 2021
Praise and positive reactions poured in for Siwa on Twitter, which became a leading topic on Friday afternoon.
If you swag backwards, it’s gay. coincidence ?? Lil Nas X wrote, which appeared in public on Twitter in June 2019.
if you spell ‘swag’ backwards, it’s ‘gay’. coincidence ??
– no (@LilNasX) 22 January 2021
Siwa also posted an Instagram photo on Thursday of her wearing a Gucci track jacket with a rainbow, with thousands of comments from fans, including musician Luke Eisner, Paris Hilton and other celebrities congratulating her.
As a dancer, Siwa first gained notoriety in the Lifetime reality series “Dance Moms” and quickly skyrocketed with her fashion, accessories and music aimed at a young audience. She signed with Nickelodeon in 2017 and appeared in the TV movie “Blurt”, “Lip Sync Battle Shorties” and is the youngest contestant ever in Fox’s “The Masked Singer”.