American dancer, singer, actress and YouTuber, JoJo Siwa, has clapped back at Candace Owens’ claim that she’s lying about her sexual orientation.
Owens, a 33-year-old conservative commentator, released a video earlier this week, with the inflammatory title: “Is JoJo Siwa lying about being lesbian for attention?”
During the video, that's just under six minutes long, she accused the 19-year-old social media star of not really being gay.
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After Owen's video picked up some attention on social media with 2.9m views, JoJo responded.
“I haven’t watched the video yet,” 19-year-old Siwa tweeted in response to Candace's podcast account. “But if it has anything to do with your caption, respectfully back the f*ck off.”
Owens says in the video she shared to Twitter: “I don’t believe JoJo Siwa is a lesbian, by the way. I wanna state that very clearly. I do believe she’s desperate for attention.”
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Candace went on to react to JoJo‘s TikTok about her gay awakening, dancing and pulling faces of mock amazement and disgust as she watches alongside the viewer.
In the video, Siwa describes when she first realised she was gay after listening to Demi Lovato‘s song, Cool for the Summer, repeat-watching Jenna Dewan‘s Lip Sync Battle performance and not wanting to be intimate with a man on her first ever date.
Owens reacts: “One plus one plus one must equal ‘I’m a l*sbo'.
"The idea here is that she suddenly realised she’s a lesbian because she had a bad date and liked the way Jenna Dewan danced. It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.
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"It’s very clear to me she did that video for attention. She got attention because it’s a great way to find a community of victims.”
Owens continues the video, calling Siwa's sexuality a brand and picking apart other examples of Siwa's behaviour, including Siwa going along with false rumours that she is pregnant on social media in early March.
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Siwa played along, poking fun at the rumours, posting photos of herself pushing her belly out and holding her stomach, causing several of her followers to accuse her of being 'insensitive' towards people who have experienced difficulties with fertility or pregnancy.
Siwa shut down the rumours in one Snapchat story from March 27, explaining that she is not planning on having a child until she is older and that, as a gay woman, she is likely to adopt when she decides to become a parent.
Response to the feud has fallen on both sides of the argument.
One said: "Ugh Candace Owens is an awful human being."
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While another saw the other side: "My daughter and I watched Dance Moms back in the day. That child is so annoying and will do anything for attention."
Others fell somewhere in the middle - disagreeing both with Owens' views and with Siwa feigning pregnancy: "Would never accuse someone for lying about their sexuality, but click-baiting and clout chasing by pretending to be pregnant is weird in my opinion."