Okay, I admit it. When youth (and now LGBTQIA+) icon Jojo Siwa uploaded the TikTok that people now recognize as her coming out video, I was still on the fence since she didn’t explicitly talk about her sexuality or gender identity in it. However, she’s been very outspoken since and her latest interview with Jimmy Fallon is the most heartwarming thing you’ll see all day.
On Feb. 4, the Nickelodeon star came on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” to open up about the support she has received since coming out, her girlfriend’s influence in her decision to do so, and her upcoming musical.
Fallon began the interview by mentioning a photo of Siwa wearing a shirt with the words “Best. Gay. Cousin. Ever.” which she posted on Twitter on Jan. 23. Siwa said that the outpouring of support that she got from it was the most love she had ever received. She then shared the story behind her decision to finally come out to her fans.
The star mentioned how she had predicted that the TikTok that she collaborated on with the Pride House would generate more speculations on her sexuality. “I come over and we were doing this TikTok and I was like, ‘I think this is going to out me.’ I don’t really mind because it is true that I have the most amazing, wonderful, perfect, most beautiful girlfriend in the whole world. It’s not something that I’m ashamed of. I just haven’t shown the internet yet. There have always been speculations, of course.”
She recounted how she discussed with her girlfriend the positive responses that she got from the TikToks which neither fully confirmed nor denied the rumors. When she was trying to decide whether or not to post the “Best. Gay. Cousin. Ever.” photo, she said that her girlfriend was super encouraging. “She was like, ‘Do it!’” said Siwa.
“My thing with coming out is that it can be a very scary thing. Of course, not everybody in the world is going to accept it right now. But there are so many people that [will.] Even if there’s a million people, that’s a lot of people that don’t accept it. There’s a hundred million that do and I think that’s something that’s really important. But also, I don’t want it to be such a big thing. It’s just who I am,” she added.
Since coming out, Siwa has been shutting down homophobes in the comments section of her posts and inspiring so many of her fans.
Makeup artist Matt Bernstein wrote in a tweet, “Miss Jojo Siwa is out here being in LOVE! As she should. The gay romance the world needed.”
Musician and vlogger Andrea Russett tweeted, “I can’t get over how awesome it is to see Jojo Siwa be so loud and proud about her sexuality with such a young audience. I can’t imagine the amount of confused kids she’s helping feel accepted.”
Photo screengrabbed from the “It’s Christmas Now!” music video
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