Why JoJo Siwa Advocated To Remove A Kissing Scene From Her Next Movie

JoJo Siwa's brand has long touted the fact that it's built on a foundation of self-love, and the teen star has not been afraid to be unequivocally herself — whether that means wearing glittery bows at 18 or proudly coming out as pansexual earlier this year. And now, she's further reinforced that ethos by being upfront about what she is and isn't comfortable with.

In a June 1 story for Entertainment Weekly's Pride digital cover, the performer said that she has been trying to have a romantic kiss scene between herself and a man removed from her upcoming movie Bounce. 

"I'm madly in love and I do not want to kiss another human. Especially because it's a man," Siwa, who is currently in a relationship with girlfriend Kylie Prew, told EW. "That's what [my fans] look at me as, not some character, not some fictional thing. And so it's going to be a little weird."

"I'm not about it," she continued. "I'm trying to get it pulled so bad. It'll happen. It'll get pulled." 

In April, Siwa told People that she's still on a journey to understand her sexuality — she said that she tends to joke that she's "Ky-sexual," since her girlfriend, who inspired her to come out, is named Kylie — and she's happy enough to take her time trying to figure it out. "I don't know, bisexual, pansexual, queer, lesbian, gay, straight," she said. "I always just say gay because it just kind of covers it, or queer because I think the keyword is cool… Technically, I would say that I am pansexual, because that's how I have always been my whole life is just, like, my human is my human."

The film, produced by Will Smith's production company Westbrook Studios, is a Christmas movie adapted from Megan Shull's young adult novel of the same name. Shortly after the interview dropped, Siwa wrote a tweet that seems to suggest that the film will cut her romantic scene after all. "My friends at paramount and my friend [Bounce producer] Caleeb Pinkett are 1000% supportive of me and assured me that I don’t have to do anything I don’t wanna do ever!!! I’m so excited to make the movie 'Bounce' and couldn’t have better people to make it with!!"

And just as she's set her own rules and boundaries when talking about her identity, she's obviously modelling the same approach when it comes to other important parts of her life, like her image and career. And it seems people are listening.

Refinery29 reached out to Westbrook Studios for comment.