JoJo Siwa Draws Backlash for Pregnancy Joke

JoJo Siwa is making waves as she feeds into untrue rumors that she is pregnant. The Dance Moms alum, 19, has been trending on social media after a series of Snapchat photos had fans wondering if she was expecting, despite her taking to TikTok to deny the speculation earlier this month, shaking her head and laughing at a stitched video about the rumors. 

But despite her denial, Siwa has continued to play up the joke, reportedly recording herself shopping for baby clothes before revealing they were meant as part of a giveaway for expectant mothers, according to Insider. Then Monday, Siwa posted a video in which her friend, Ezra Sosa, touches her belly, saying “You know that everyone thinks I’m the dad, right?” and joking in a follow-up post that he is “the father of my baby!!”

The joking may have gone too far, however, drawing criticism from Twitter users who accused her of being insensitive. “Anyone else think it’s extremely weird and inappropriate for jojo siwa to be constantly jokingpublicly about being pregnant when she knows how many people are struggling?” one person asked, adding that “pregnancy isn’t a joke.”

Another wondered, “Doesn’t anybody else think it’s extremely disrespectful and insensitive for JoJo Siwa to be pretending to be pregnant ?????” as a different user commented, “Hot take but Jojo siwa feeding into the pregnancy ‘rumors’ just doesn’t sit right with me. We all know she’s not pregnant, and it’s incredibly insensitive to those dealing with infertility/pregnancy loss. People have been saying for years not to joke about that shit.”

The Dancing With the Stars alum is no stranger to social media controversy. Earlier this month, Siwa posted a TikTok in which she recalled coming out as a member of the LGBTQ+ community publicly in 2021, only to be told by “the company I work for” they needed to have a meeting with her immediately. “During this meeting the PRESIDENT of the company negatively asked me ‘what are you gonna tell your young demographic.’ I took a second to process what I was just asked, and then…I replied… ‘THE TRUTH.’” Siwa continued that she’d “never seen a man roll his eyes so far in the back of his head.”

As fans began to speculate the company Siwa was speaking about was indeed her frequent employer Nickelodeon, the company denied the incident occurred with them. “We are unaware of what incident or meeting JoJo is referencing, but it certainly did not happen at Nickelodeon,” the company said in a statement to Teen Vogue. “We have valued and supported JoJo since day one of our relationship together and we still do today.” Nickelodeon added that it supported Siwa on social media after her coming out, even launching the PRIDE Capsule Collection with her and donating all of the proceeds to the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network.