Teen icon JoJo Siwa is extremely popular with kids and their parents after two years on Dance Moms, a career as a singer, huge followings on every platform, and Siwa merchandise up the wazoo.
Her brand of relentless positivity, cheerfulness, and love has won over the hearts and minds of people from all walks of life, even if they are in some disagreement over the fashion value of a side ponytail.
That’s why it was such a big deal when Siwa posted this picture of herself on Twitter with the caption, “My cousin got me a new shirt.” The shirt reads, “BEST. GAY. COUSIN. EVER.”
My cousin got me a new shirt pic.twitter.com/DuHhgRto7b
— JoJo Siwa (@itsjojosiwa) January 22, 2021
The shirt definitely implies that JoJo Siwa is gay, or at the very least, a part of the LGBTQ community.
She went on Instagram to clarify her announcement, saying she wasn’t sure what her “label” should be.
“I have thought about this, and the reason I’m not going to say this answer is because I don’t really know this answer,” she explained. “I think humans are awesome, I think humans are really incredible people.”
She does say she is “so so happy” right now to be sharing this side of herself. Lots of people jumped into her comments section to tell JoJo how much they love and support her, and how nice it is to see the happiness she’s expressing:
But there are always some haters in the crowd. JoJo mostly focused on the positive, as usual, but when she did respond to one homophobe it was in the perfect JoJo style.
A mom commented, “My daughter will never watch you again.” What did JoJo say to that? Just “Okay!”
In a way, this interaction is pretty funny. Unfortunately, there have been much darker harassment efforts against JoJo since she came out.
Metro.uk reported that JoJo’s home was swatted, which means that a team of police were sent to her house with false information. She was forced to come outside with her hands up, and the paparazzi jumped out to join the police.
Despite her relentless positivity, JoJo is a teenager, and campaigns against her from trolls and homophobes must be exhausting. Support JoJo, whatever she ends up labeling herself as someday.