JoJo Siwa is facing some fierce backlash following her comments about the word “lesbian.”
Last week, the entertainer was interviewed by Yahoo! Life about her status as Gen-Zs “gay icon” and her status as a member of the LGBTQ+ community.
When JoJo came out in January 2021, she admitted that she didn’t want any labels put on her, but rather that she was simply part of the LGBTQ+ community.
JoJo Siwa Doesn’t Like The Term ‘Lesbian’
Three months after publicly coming out, JoJo spoke to People about labels.
“I still don’t know what I am. It’s like, I want to figure it out. And I have this joke. Her name is Kylie. And so I say that I’m Ky-sexual,” she admitted. “But like, I don’t know, bisexual, pansexual, queer, lesbian, gay, straight. I always just say gay because it just kind of covers it or queer because I think the keyword is cool.”
There’s a reason she didn’t want to be labeled a “lesbian,” and her recent explanation ruffled a lot of feathers.
While speaking to the outlet, JoJo explained why she didn’t care for the term “lesbian.”
JoJo Doesn’t Like The Word ‘Lesbian,’ Compared It To The Word ‘Moist’
“I don’t like the word itself,” she said. “It’s just like a lot. But I mean, at the end of the day, that’s what I am.”
JoJo compared her disdain for “lesbian” to the word “moist.”
“It’s like the word moist. It’s just like… ugh!” she said.
Twitter instantly went off on JoJo accusing her of “lesbophobia.”
“Ik [I know] the jojo siwa thing definitely stems from internalized lesbophobia but also why do you have to say that in a very public interview with potentially a lot of young queer people,” one enraged fan wrote.
Another tweeted, “I wish Jojo Siwa would heal her internalized homophobia and not tell a generation of young gays how much she hates the word ‘lesbian.’ Being a lesbian absolutely. Rules. It’s lesbophobia that is the problem.”
“’Jojo siwa has internalized lesbophobia’ how internalized is it when thousands of people have seen her compare lesbian to moist,” this person pointed out.
JoJo Accused Of ‘Lesbophobia’
Others were a bit more forgiving and understanding given how young JoJo is and how new she is to the LGBTQ+ community.
Over the weekend, JoJo clearly got wind of the backlash and anger, so, she decided to issue a TikTok video.
JoJo Breaks Her Silence
“Okay, I’ve been going through my comments and I just want to make something SUPER clear. I never said lesbian was a dirty word and I never ever would say it’s a dirty word, because it is not,” she began. “It is not a bad word, it is not a slur and it’s especially not a word I’m ashamed of saying or ashamed of identifying as by any means.”
@itsjojosiwa Replying to @🌈Liz🌈 ♬ Born This Way – Lady Gaga
JoJo’s explanation came as a response to a fan named Liz who wrote, “that is not what happened. She called it a dirty word. She did nothing but insult us, my sexuality is not a dirty word.”
“I don’t hate the word ‘lesbian.’ It’s just, whenever somebody talks to me about my sexuality I just say that I’m gay,” she concluded.
Many of her followers asked her to think about why she feels this way about the word “lesbian.”
They left comments on the TikTok video like, “think abt why you feel that way,” “why dont u like the sound of it 💀why do u think that is” and “have u ever questioned urself why don’t u like it.”
