JoJo Siwa claps back at Candace Owens’ claim that she’s ‘lying’ about her sexuality
JoJo Siwa has clapped back at far-right conservative pundit Candace Owens. (Getty)
Dancer and YouTube star JoJo Siwa has hit back at offensive claims by far-right talk show host Candace Owens that she is ‘lying’ about being gay.
In a six-minute video shared to Twitter on Tuesday (4 April) from her Daily Wire podcast, pro-Trump activist Owens rants about how she doesn’t believe Siwa is a lesbian and accuses the dancer and YouTube star of being “desperate for attention”.
Her video is captioned with the question: “Is Jojo Siwa lying about being lesbian for attention?”
Owens reacted to Siwa’s “gay awakening” TikTok video, where Siwa shares that she realised she was gay after a number of factors came together for her in her coming out journey.
They include listening to Demi Lovato’s “Cool For the Summer”, repeat-watching Jenna Dewan-Tatum’s Lip Sync Battle performance and being “grossed out” by the idea of having sex with a man she went on a date with.
Owens – who has previously called Donald Trump a “feminist icon” for his opposition to trans rights – dismissed Siwa’s journey, saying: “‘One plus one must equal I’m a l***o’. It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.
“It’s very clear to me that she did that video for attention. She got attention because it’s a great way to find a community of victims.”
She went on: “I don’t believe JoJo Siwa is a lesbian, by the way. I want to state that very clearly. I do believe that she’s desperate for attention.”
It took three days for the video to come to Siwa’s attention, but on Friday (7 March), the American singer, dancer, actor and social media star responded to Owens’ claims by tweeting: “I haven’t watched the video yet …. But if it has anything to do with your caption, respectfully back the f**k off.”
Fans were quick to praise Siwa, with Billboard columnist and Tidal editor Jeff Benjamin tweeting: “ We love you, JoJo. Everyone knows who’s doing what for attention.”
JoJo Siwa, who has more than 45 million followers on TikTok, officially came out on social media in 2021, and has since said that being called a gay icon by fans “is an honour that I do not take lightly”.
Peddling an offensive theory that people pretend to be queer in a grab for clout and calling LGBTQ+ folks “a community of victims” isn’t the first time right-wing pundit Owens has made hateful anti-LGBTQ+ statements.
The Los Angeles Blade reported that she used the Thursday (6 April) edition of her Daily Wire podcast to call “transgenderism” the “greatest civil rights violation of our time” and “worse than Jim Crow laws”,
In the disturbing segment peppered with transphobic rhetoric, she went on to dub gender-affirming healthcare and the existence of trans people “Frankenstein”.
PinkNews has reached out to Candace Owens for comment.
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