JoJo Siwa reflects on being a ‘gay icon’: ‘It’s an honour that I do not take lightly’
Jojo Siwa says being called a gay icon is an ‘honour’ (Kevin Winter/Getty Images for iHeartRadio)
JoJo Siwa has explained that her young fans calling her a “gay icon” is an “honour that I do not take lightly”.
In an interview with Yahoo! Life, Siwa explained that after coming out as gay in 2021, at the age of 17, her fans began to call her a “gay icon”, a title that she is “honoured” by.
“It’s not about being comfortable with being the face of the LGBTQ+ young demographic… It’s about being honoured with that,” Siwa, now 19, told the outlet.
“It’s something that I’ve been appointed by, not myself, by just the world calling me a gay icon, calling me this generation’s icon. That is an honour that I do not take lightly.”
The So You Think You Can Dance judge also told Yahoo! that she loves dressing in colourful clothes and her signature bows, adding that “you can be queer and be girly”.
“I think that’s a thing, is a lot of times lesbians are taken to be masculine. ‘If you’re a lesbian, do you wanna be a boy?’ That’s not the case. There are plenty of very feminine lesbians,” she added.
Despite her title as “gay icon” however, JoJo Siwa explained that she hates the word lesbian, preferring to describe herself as gay.
“I don’t like the word itself… it’s like the word moist. Ugh!”
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JoJo Siwa recently announced that she was back together with Kylie Prew, after the couple ended their relationship last year.
In May, the social media star confirmed the news by sharing a series of romantic pictures on Instagram of the couple at Disney World in Florida.
“If you love something let it go, if it comes back…” Siwa captioned the photos.
Siwa first announced that she was dating Prew in February 2021 with an Instagram post celebrating their one-month anniversary. The Dance Moms star revealed that Prew had been her “best friend for over a year” before she was able to “start calling this exceptional human my girlfriend”.
However, Siwa later confirmed in November that she and Prew had broken up after less than a year of dating. Siwa said Prew remained “my best friend” and said the situation was the “definition” of “right person, wrong time”.
It looks like the pair are still going strong, however, as they were caught on the kiss cam at an LGBTQ+ baseball event in June.
