Metro Weekly

JoJo Siwa Slams Candace Owens for Claiming She’s ‘Lying’ About Being Gay

Conservative pundit claims the YouTube star is pretending to be a lesbian to gain attention, as part of a "cry for help."

Photo Illustration by Todd Franson. JoJo Siwa (left) – Photo: Instagram; Candace Owens – Photo: Gage Skidmore, via Flickr.

JoJo Siwa, a popular YouTube star, dancer, and social media influencer, has hit back at a statement made by far-right pundit Candace Owens in which Owens claimed Siwa is “lying” about being gay.

In a six-minute clip of the April 4 edition of her Daily Wire podcast,  Owens rants about how she doesn’t believe Siwa is a lesbian, despite the YouTuber’s claims that she is not attracted to men and has only been in relationships with other women.

“Is Jojo (sic) Siwa lying about being lesbian for attention?” Owens titled the video.

Owens reacted to a TikTok video Siwa posted last year about her “gay awakening,” or when she knew she was LGBTQ.

In that video, Siwa, who identifies as pansexual, “gay,” and “queer,” said she allegedly became aware of her sexuality after listening to Demi Lovato’s hit song “Cool for the Summer,” repeat-watching Jenna Dewan-Tatum’s Magic Mike striptease-style performance to Ginuwine’s “Pony” on the show Lip Sync Battle, and being “grossed out” after a going on a bad date with a man who was overly eager to have sex with her.

Owens mocked Siwa’s coming out process. “‘One plus one plus one must equal I’m a lesbo,’ or something,” she said. “And that’s, I guess, the idea here, is that she suddenly realized she’s a lesbian because she had a bad date, and she liked the way Jenna Dewan danced to Magic Mike.”

Owens continued: “It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. And 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,” referring to the LGBTQ “never-ending alphabet soup” community.

“Nobody’s ever questioned whether this girl is literally just doing all of this for attention,” Owens said. “Now, maybe I’m wrong, maybe she is a lesbian, maybe if you see Jenna Dewan dancing, you might also become a lesbian, or maybe it’s also true that if you, too, go on a bad date — which all of us have gone on — you might be like —

“Maybe I’m a lesbian,” Owens said sarcastically. “I’ve been on some bad dates. I might actually be a lesbian.”

She then asserted that Siwa is pretending to be a lesbian to gain societal “acceptance,” pointing to a stunt that Siwa pulled on social media pretending to be pregnant — an action which earned her backlash — as evidence of her being a left-wing provocateur and attention-seeker.

“I know [Siwa’s] brand is happy and sparkly, and she wears a lot of pieces in her hair, she wears scrunchies and bows, and children like to watch her because she’s ecstatic all the time,” Owens said. “People that you see that put on an appearance of happiness all the time are usually the ones suffering most internally, and there’s no question to me that we have observed from her over the past few years is one giant cry for help.”

Owens said that she predicted Siwa, like Demi Lovato, would “go down a dark path” in her life for tying herself to the LGBTQ movement and seeking to push an LGBTQ “agenda” rather than embrace God. 

“I don’t believe JoJo Siwa is a lesbian, by the way — I want to state that very clearly,” Owens said. “I do believe that she’s desperate for attention.”

Three days later, Owens’s video came to Siwa’s attention, prompting her to tweet: “I haven’t watched the video yet…. But if it has anything to do with your caption, respectfully back the fuck off.”

Siwa’s tweet earned support from her followers, although some supporters of Owens mocked her over the pregnancy stunt. 

“I used to love watching you dance as a kid. You were a fighter and you never gave up and you seemed to just be unapologeticly (sic) you. At what point did you allow yourself to be hijacked by a ‘movement’ for attention. It’s not worth it. You can’t keep caving to the camera for likes and fame. It’s not healthy,” tweeted an Owens supporter.

aren’t u lying about being pregnant for attention?? so why wouldn’t u lie about that. stop promoting you lying & maybe you wouldn’t be accused of lying,” tweeted a second user.

“Get over it already. She was doing it to get back at everyone who kept speculating if she was pregnant,” responded a Siwa supporter.

“Is Candace Owens really trying to come for somebody about seeking attention?” tweeted a second Siwa supporter.

Candace is obviously trying to get your attention……” tweeted a third user, followed by the emoji for side-eyeing.

This is not the first time that Owens has pushed the theory that people pretend to be LGBTQ to gain clout and sought to portray LGBTQ people as embracing “victimhood.”

She has previously criticized parents who allow their children to attend events like Drag Queen Story Hour and has called “transgenderism” the “greatest civil rights violation of our time” and “worse than Jim Crow laws” because some transgender people may choose to medically transition.

She has claimed that the LGBTQ community, by pushing for visibility, is seeking to “groom” or indoctrinate children, thereby making it easier for pedophilia to become more widely tolerated, as Media Matters for America has reported.

Support Metro Weekly’s Journalism

These are challenging times for news organizations. And yet it’s crucial we stay active and provide vital resources and information to both our local readers and the world. So won’t you please take a moment and consider supporting Metro Weekly with a membership? For as little as $5 a month, you can help ensure Metro Weekly magazine and MetroWeekly.com remain free, viable resources as we provide the best, most diverse, culturally-resonant LGBTQ coverage in both the D.C. region and around the world. Memberships come with exclusive perks and discounts, your own personal digital delivery of each week’s magazine (and an archive), access to our Member's Lounge when it launches this fall, and exclusive members-only items like Metro Weekly Membership Mugs and Tote Bags! Check out all our membership levels here and please join us today!