JoJo Siwa Drops Pride Show, Rejects ‘Lesbian’ Label
Pop star gushes over romance with Big Brother co-star Chris Hughes while saying she felt pressured to identify as a lesbian — fueling right-wing backlash.
Last weekend, queer pop star JoJo Siwa abruptly canceled her upcoming performance at a Chicago Pride event scheduled for Sunday, June 29.
Back Lot Bash Chicago, which was hosting the two-day outdoor event, announced last Saturday in an Instagram Stories post that Siwa would not longer be performing, citing a “scheduling conflict” as the reason, according to the U.K. newspaper the Daily Mail.
Back Lot Bash Chicago, host of the two-day outdoor event, announced on Instagram that Siwa would no longer be performing, citing a “scheduling conflict,” according to the Daily Mail.
No further explanation was given for the cancellation.
Siwa, 22, recently released her latest single, “Bulletproof,” independently after parting ways with Columbia Records, which had issued her 2022 EP Guilty Pleasure. Neither she nor the label commented on the split.
The cancellation came a day after Siwa told the Daily Mail she felt “pressured” to call herself a “lesbian” — a word she previously said she didn’t like using — due to past relationships with women. She’s now dating British reality star Chris Hughes.
“When I came out at 17, I said, ‘I’m pansexual because I don’t care [about gender],'” she told the newspaper. “But then I kind of boxed myself in and I said: ‘I’m a lesbian.’ And I think I did that because of pressure.
“In a weird way, I think [the pressure] came a little bit from inside the [LGBTQ] community at times. From people I know, from partners I’ve had,” she continued. “You just get put in this world where you feel like, because you now have said, ‘Oh, I’m a lesbian,’ you have to be a lesbian. And the truth is, sexuality is fluid.”
Siwa, who has made her LGBTQ identity a key part of her public persona — courting controversy with assertions that she was bringing back a “new” genre of “gay pop,” appearing and performing at several Pride events, appearing as a guest judge on RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars in a rainbow-colored outfit, and even blasting Disney for the company executives’ reactions to her coming out — told the Mail that her relationship with Hughes started as a friendship while the two were on Celebrity Big Brother before morphing into something deeper.
Siwa, who has made her LGBTQ identity a central part of her public persona — performing at Pride events, guest-judging RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars, and even blasting Disney after coming out — told the Mail that her relationship with Hughes began as a friendship when the two appeared together on Celebrity Big Brother UK.
During her time on the show, Siwa told RuPaul’s Drag Race UK star Danny Beard that she no longer considered herself a “lesbian,” instead identifying as “queer,” as reported by The Blast.
“And I think that’s really cool,” she said. “I’m switching letters! I’ve dropped the L and I’ve gone to the Q, baby! That’s what I love about sexuality.”
Siwa now calls Hughes, 32, “the favorite part of my life,” and has reportedly told TMZ that the two have discussed marriage.
Siwa’s remarks — particularly those about feeling pressured to identify as a lesbian — have been seized on by conservative and anti-LGBTQ voices, who are using them to push the false narrative that the queer community is “grooming” children.
“We were censored for calling the left groomers,” chimed in conservative podcast host Liz Wheeler. “But now JoJo Siwa, famous Gen Z lesbian, quits being lesbian, is madly in love with a man, says she was pressured as a child into identifying as a lesbian… by the LGBTQ+ mafia. Groomers. They silence us when we’re RIGHT.”
Daily Wire host Michael Knowles also used Siwa’s remarks to promote the idea that young people are being pressured into identifying as LGBTQ.
“Either what JoJo Siwa said was right, that kids are groomed by the LGBTQ community,” he said on his podcast. “Or you have to deny the lived experience…of a young queer girl.”
Siwa’s comments also sparked backlash on social media. Some users accused her of hypocrisy and attention-seeking, while others said her statements would fuel anti-LGBTQ rhetoric.
“I’m literally never going to forget that JoJo Siwa told the world that ‘the queer community made her say she was lesbian when she wasn’t’ during Pride Month,” one user wrote on X.
Others raised concerns about biphobia and urged Siwa to consider how her messaging might be weaponized. “She should realize a nuanced conversation… cannot be had in this political landscape,” wrote another.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Siwa offered a more reflective take, saying her understanding of her sexuality has evolved and that she now identifies as “queer” or “pansexual.”
Siwa described “queer” as “the beautiful umbrella term of all the LGBTQIA community,” but acknowledged she’s “in no way anyone to speak on what term means what,” crediting older members of the community for helping her understand the language.
She said she hopes to serve as an “example that sexuality is a beautiful rainbow, and it’s OK to be fluid.”
“Labels are something, but you’re not required to have one,” she added. “I think that’s one of the most beautiful things about sexuality — it is fluid, and love is love, and love is uncontrollable.”
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