Celebs
JoJo Siwa Dunks On Homophobic Mom With One Word Response
After coming out, the star has amassed over 100,000 new followers.
January 26 2021 11:28 AM EST
May 31 2023 3:57 PM EST
MikelleStreet
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After coming out, the star has amassed over 100,000 new followers.
JoJo Siwa had quite the week last week. The Dance Moms star, 17-year-old business mogul, and YouTube sensation sent waves through social media when she came out in a multi-step process via TikTok and Twitter. After, she reflected on the moment, giddily telling her Instagram followers that she was the happiest she's ever been personally. Only hours later she was swatted, with police forcing her to come out of her home as a result of someone's false report. A week indeed.
Much has been made of the coming out given that Siwa has such a large fan base of young fans. Her visibility, still in the prime of her career as the face of her namesake billion-dollar brand, is likely to mean a lot for LGBTQ+ youth coming to terms with their own identity. As such she's seen major support from celebrities all over like Lil Nas X and Ellen DeGeneres and has seen an uptick in over 100,000 new Twitter followers according to representatives for the company. In fact, usage of the pink bow emoji grew by 12% -- largely affiliated with her due to her affinity for bows -- in the wake of her coming out. But as we all suspected, this didn't come without some pushback.
As much as people were applauding Siwa, early on many were steeling themselves for backlash. As the performer has such a large fan base of young children, many anticipated that conservative moms would emerge, frothing at the mouth. But Siwa is unbothered.
"My daughter will never watch you again," one commenter wrote to one of Siwa's recent Instagram posts this weekend after the coming out according to a screenshot. She racked up some 3,000 likes on the comment. Hours later, Siwa found a bit of time in her practically charmed life to respond.
"Okay!" she wrote. Just like that.
It's an apt response: many times in this environment conservatives attempt to use a star's celebrity against them to force them to conform. Though they claim to hate de-platforming, conservatives are old hats at it, bandying threats to stop supporting someone or something as a repudiation of their actions or identity. Thankfully, many are slowly beginning to realize that they are but a minority, and their support isn't really worth our suffering.
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Mikelle is the former editorial director of digital for PrideMedia, guiding digital editorial and social across Out, The Advocate, Pride.com, Out Traveler, and Plus. After starting as a freelancer for Out in 2013, he joined the staff as Senior Editor working across print and digital in 2018. In early 2021 he became Out's digital director, marking a pivot to content that centered queer and trans stories and figures, exclusively. In September 2021, he was promoted to editorial director of PrideMedia. He has written cover stories on Ricky Martin, Miss Fame, Nyle DiMarco, Jeremy O. Harris, Law Roach, and Symone.
Mikelle is the former editorial director of digital for PrideMedia, guiding digital editorial and social across Out, The Advocate, Pride.com, Out Traveler, and Plus. After starting as a freelancer for Out in 2013, he joined the staff as Senior Editor working across print and digital in 2018. In early 2021 he became Out's digital director, marking a pivot to content that centered queer and trans stories and figures, exclusively. In September 2021, he was promoted to editorial director of PrideMedia. He has written cover stories on Ricky Martin, Miss Fame, Nyle DiMarco, Jeremy O. Harris, Law Roach, and Symone.