JoJo Siwa, 17, confirms she came out as LGBTQ+ after wearing 'Best Gay Cousin Ever' shirt

JoJow Siwa cleared up any confusing about coming out and confirmed she’s a member of the LGBTQ+ community on Saturday.

The 17-year-old dancer and ponytail enthusiast shared a new video to Instagram declaring she was ‘so so happy’ after coming out the day before.

Despite wearing a shirt reading ‘Best. Gay. Cousin. Ever.,’ JoJo wasn’t ready to put a label on her sexuality just yet.

JoJo appeared on camera in a black Time 100 hoodie and a white bow on her ponytail with rainbow-colored hearts. 

‘For the last 48 hours, I have gotten the most endless amount of love and support,’ she gushed at the start of her video.

‘I am really, really — I’m really happy. And now that the world gets to see this side of my life, it makes me really happy.’ 

After mention that someone asked how she labeled herself on the live video, she explained: ‘I have thought about this, and the reason why I’m not ready to say this answer is because I don’t really know this answer.

‘I think humans are awesome. I think humans are really incredible people,’ she said.

‘I want to keep things in my life private before they’re ready to become public,’ she added, more diplomatically. 

‘I’m the happiest that I’ve ever been. And that’s what matters.’

Later, another fan asked how long she had been part of the LGBTQ+ community.

‘I don’t know,’ she responded. ‘I think my whole life. Because my whole life, I’ve really really been, I just liked people, but I have never fallen in love before. But I always believed that my person was just going to be my person. If that person happened to be a boy, great! And if that person happened to be a girl, great! I think I’m just really happy. I think in life you know when you meet your person, I really do.’ 

One person asked about her breakup with Mark Bontempo in November 2020, but she downplayed the possibility that it was related to her sexuality.

‘People in life break up,’ she said. ‘People as teenagers break up, you have a boyfriend or you have a girlfriend when you’re six years old and you break up with them, you’re not with them for forever. I was a teenager, I still am a teenager but I think I’m pretty happy now. I’m pretty good now.’

The social media star also said her parents knew about her sexuality.

‘My parents have known. My mom said she’s known for the last two years. She’s like, “I just know with you!” Around two years ago, she was like, “I don’t think you only like boys, that’s totally okay.” They’ve always been so everything… My family is awesome,’ she enthused.

The night before, JoJo shared a playful clip of herself rocking out to music well after midnight while wearing aviator glasses and a rainbow bow.

‘How long till my family comes in and tells me to go to sleep????’ she captioned it.  

JoJo Siwa set off the commotion by posting a photo of herself wearing a ‘Best. Gay. Cousin. Ever.’ T-shirt on her Instagram Stories.

The YouTube sensation thanked her cousin for the garment as she showed off the black and blue T-shirt to her social media followers on Friday.

Soon after posting the photo, JoJo became a trending topic on Twitter as fans posted their support for the teen. 

In the snap, JoJo wore a sparkly pink bow in her hair as she gazed down at the shirt with a smile on her face.

‘Thanks for the shirt cousin @wandawandawanda,’ JoJo wrote in the photo.

JoJo initially didn’t address the T-shirt in subsequent posts, which included video of her confidently walking around her house to the Ariana Grande song, Step on Up. 

She also posted video to her YouTube account of her ‘extreme makeover’ that day, where she again did not address the T-shirt. The look she ended up wearing in the video was the same outfit she wore in her TikTok video.

The post comes after JoJo shared a TikTok video of herself lip-syncing to the Lady Gaga smash hit, Born This Way. 

The teen shared the clip with her 31.1 million followers on the platform, beaming as she mouthed the lyrics to the LGBTQ+ anthem.

JoJo, who is a self-confessed huge fan of Gaga, also sported her signature rainbow accessories, in keeping with the song’s message. 

JoJo – real name Joelle Joanie Siwa – filmed the short clip in her room, with flashing rainbow lights in the background.

The singer and dancer, who shot to fame on reality show Dance Moms, mimed the lyrics, ‘no matter gay, straight, or bi, lesbian, transgender,’ in the short clip.

TikTok star Kent Boyd also shared a clip of JoJo visiting the famous Pride House LA in Los Angeles – a TikTok house dedicated to LGBTQ+ creators. 

JoJo danced to the Paramore song, Ain’t It Fun, alongside Mollee Gray, Garrett Clayton and others in front of a rainbow-colored wall, with Boyd captioning the video, ‘Now [you’re] one of us!’ 

Siwa first gained prominence for her appearances on the Lifetime dance show Abby’s Ultimate Dance Competition, after which she was featured in seasons five and six of Dance Moms.

In 2016, she released her debut single Boomerang, which went on to be certified as double platinum by the RIAA due to its immense popularity.

The singer was later seen in numerous productions from Nickelodeon, including the 2018 made-for-TV movie Blurt and the musical comedy series School Of Rock, which was based off of the 2003 movie of the same name.

In September, Siwa was named one of Time’s 100 most influential people of the world, with her large online following being a contributing factor to her designation. 

Back in June, JoJo spoke about her romance with Mark Bontempo, the younger brother of social media star Madison Bontempo. in an interview with Seventeen magazine.

At the time of the interview, she didn’t reveal the identity of her beau, only introducing him in a TikTok video in August.

She told Seventeen that it was up to him whether or not he wanted to go public with their relationship. ‘I’m really in the public light and the thing is is like, I don’t care,’ she explained. ‘That’s a side of my life that I can keep public or I can keep private.’ 

‘Honestly he’s a dream… Really, truly unreal and I’m so happy.’ 

By November though JoJo confirmed the six-month romance was over, defending Mark from online criticism in an Instagram comment posted on November 15.

Jojo wrote, ‘…Mark doesn’t deserve hateful things like this. He deserves to have people support him. You have NO idea about mark and I’s relationship. how much fun it was. how happy we both were, and how happy we both are. We decided it’s best for us to not be in a relationship…. that’s all.’