JoJo Siwa Explains Her Comment About Not Liking the Term 'Lesbian'
LGBTQ

JoJo Siwa Explains Her Comment About Not Liking the Term 'Lesbian'

JoJo Siwa is responding to criticism of her comment about not liking the term "lesbian."

Last week, Yahoo! Life published an interview with the former Dance Moms star, where she talked about being a newly minted member of the LGBTQ+ community, carrying on the legacy of the queer pioneers who came before her and how "honored" she was to be thought of as Gen Z's "gay icon," even if the label was assigned to her by the rest of the world. However, there was apparently one identity-based designation that Siwa has pushed against ever since she came out in January 2021, according to the outlet. And to the surprise of many, the word actually ended up being "lesbian."

"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."

Siwa added, "It's like the word moist. It's just like... ugh!"

That said, her quote was widely interpreted as negative and full of disgust, leading to ample criticism from those who believe she was trying to infer that "lesbian" is a "dirty word," with many arguing that her comments were quite troubling, especially given the size and reach of her platform.

"bestie please, you have a big platform amongst younger people, please don’t say that," as one Twitter user wrote, before another person said "fuck jojo siwa" because "lesbian is a beautiful word."

"im so tired of influential wlw calling the word lesbian 'dirty,'" a third critic commented, before referring to musician girl in red saying that "lesbian" is her "least favorite word" in a 2020 interview with the South China Morning Post about LGBTQIA+ media representation.

"And now all this with jojo siwa?," they continued. "This is actually so harmful and im so sick of it."

Eventually though, Siwa caught wind of the online discourse, which spurred her to make a TikTok about how she "never said that lesbian is a dirty word."

"I never would say that it's a dirty word because it is not. It's not a bad word, it's not a slur, it's especially not a word that I am ashamed of saying or ashamed of identifying as by any means," she explained, before clarifying that she just hates the way it sounds.

"I don't hate the word lesbian, whenever someone talks to me about my sexuality I just say that I'm gay," Siwa continued. "It's not a word that flows off the tongue for me, if that makes sense?"

Watch Siwa's TikTok for yourself below.

@itsjojosiwa Replying to @🌈Liz🌈 ♬ Born This Way - Lady Gaga

Photo via Getty / Rodin Eckenroth / WireImage

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