JoJo Siwa, the dancing Tik-Tok queen, was caught up in a sticky situation with her recent music video "Nonstop". The song is upbeat with the message about her being herself. Yet the lyrics are not what was brought to attention, but the face paint involved in the music video.
JoJo Siwa released her new music video on June 19th, 2020. Which is the historical date of African American slaves being freed. Fans were angered by JoJo posting her new video on Juneteenth, which had nothing related to the history behind the date. JoJo music video itself was inspired by the hit musical movie "The Greatest Showman". In JoJo's video she has numerous dancers dressed up as circus animals, and performers. While JoJo may have been the ring master in the music video, she was not the dancer receiving all the attention. One 11-year-old white female girl stole the show with her racially offensive costume and make-up. Lillian Ketchman, was the young dancer that wore money ears and brown make-up on her face.
JoJo Siwa and Lillian Ketchman pose together for a quick selfie featuring the costumes for "Nonstop".Daily Mail
Fans were outraged by the young female dressed as a money in JoJo's music video. Numerous of fans have logged on their social media accounts to call her out for using blackface. While other JoJo stans have fought back at the comments. The costume has sure sparked a fire between the JoJo community. A huge dispute between her current fan base and ex-fans began spreading like wild fire over Twitter. During all the arguments, JoJo added a photo onto her Instagram.
She posted a mirror picture with her signature blonde pony tail, and holding up a peace sign. In the caption she wrote
"This is for all the people I blocked today.... peace out girl scout." She later explained in her caption a quote she has been saying for years. "Hide behind the real screen cause their just so mean. But we don't play it like that, we don't even fight back." She addressed this quote for "everyone who is being kind right now". While JoJo has been on a blocking spree, she has given appreciation to her fans that have been supporting her stance on the situation. This post was on Instagram on June 25th, 2020. After 24 hours, she created another post about the situation in her music video. This Instagram photo included no selfie or iconic pony tail, but a message to everyone.
"I need to set the record straight about a few things because some have been irresponsible in recent stories and posts about me." JoJo wrote. "My insatgram post yesterday had absolutely nothing to do with the critism I received on my music video 'NONSTOP'." While a large amount of Instagram accounts felt JoJo's mirror selfie was her addressing the music video, that was not the case. She wrote the reason why she was blocking people due to herself being "tired of seeing the personal hate on" her. She then explained about the hate comments and messages she began to receive that was not all about her song Nonstop. She then typed the words for everyone to read saying "No one in my video is wearing blackface. It's awful that anyone's mind would go there", "I will say it again for the ones in the back, Black Lives Matter, today, tomorrow, yesterday, and forever." JoJo ended her caption by saying "Instead of trying to drag everyone down, let's be positive and come back like a boomerang."
Instagram users begin flooding her comments with numerous of emojis and sayings. Verified account "jillvertes" commented the word "Bingo!!" with the pink heart emoji combo. While other accounts spammed "BLM". While JoJo has not addressed the situation again, she has created new posts about another music video. But after her "Nonstop" music video, some fans may not bother to listen to her newest song.