JoJo Siwa responded to backlash over her controversial magazine photo.
On Oct. 8, JoJo appeared on a podcast hosted by Haliey Welch, known as the “Hawk Tuah Girl.”
Well, on Haliey’s show, the aptly named Talk Tuah podcast, the “Karma” singer talks about everything from whether JoJo spits on private parts to her recent viral magazine cover.
JoJo made headlines when she posed for a LadyGunn magazine cover story, wearing an embellished chest plate and underwear with a fake bulge in the pelvic region. To see the photos, go here and here.
“The stone bulge is — we were just giving a little spice, a little gender-bend, a little, you can be anything you want to be,” JoJo said. “It just was spicing myself up a little.”
The 21-year-old Dance Moms alum compared it to Harry Styles’s controversial 2020 Vogue magazine cover. “It’s like back in the day when Harry Styles wore a dress,” JoJo said. “Obviously, wearing a bulge is a little different than wearing a dress.”
“One thing about me is I like to be for the people that are different, the people who don’t fit in and for the people who are just unafraid to take risks. And I feel like being that person, I have to go as far as I possibly can into the risk zone.”
It’s funny she says that because Harry said something similar when asked about his magazine cover story back then. “Clothes are there to have fun with and experiment with and play with. What’s really exciting is that all of these lines are just kind of crumbling away,” he told Vogue.
Although the magazine cover solidified Harry as a gender-bending fashion icon, it didn’t shield him from criticism. Billy Porter, another notable fluid-dressing style icon, spoke out against the Grammy Award winner’s dress.
Billy told The Sunday Times, “I created the conversation [about non-binary fashion], and yet Vogue still put Harry Styles, a straight white man, in a dress on their cover for the first time.”
JoJo also received backlash for her cover shoot, which she described as, more or less, harrowing. “It’s brutal,” she said.
“It’s really hard,” JoJo added. “People are just dicks.”
Here’s what some people said in response to JoJo’s cover, and these are just the mildly appropriate ones:
We need to lighten up on JoJo. Sure, Billy popped off on Harry, but he didn’t seem to receive hate like this for his magazine cover. A month ago, rapper Doechii did a little drag for her Paper magazine shoot, which was well received. Let JoJo have some fun.
Was there a time you dared to be different, and your friends or family didn’t take you seriously? How did it make you feel? I remember the first time I wore a dress in public and had to navigate hateful comments from former friends, family, and complete strangers. Share your stories in the comments.
StopBullying.gov is an organization that provides resources to prevent harassment and bullying against children. Stomp Out Bullying offers a free and confidential chat line here.
