YouTube superstar and former Dance Moms competitor JoJo Siwa nearly broke the Internet in January after posting a TikTok video where she lip-synced to Lady Gaga's "Born This Way." That performance, as it were, basically served as the opening statements for her coming out as part of the LGBTQ community, and she soon followed it up by posting a picture of herself in a gifted T-shirt that read "Best. Gay. Cousin. Ever." Her fanbase went berserk over the reveal, and it even reached the welcoming ears of Lord of the Rings and X-Men vet Sir Ian McKellen.
Following JoJo Siwa's fairly informal coming out party on social media, an unsurprisingly long line of fans and friends were there to reach out and congratulate her. (There were some detractors, but not even they could pull Siwa away from her good vibes.) Along with early responses from celebs such as talk show host Ellen DeGeneres, musician Lil Nas X and Broadway star Todrick Hall, the mega-popular YouTuber also received words of encouragement from the great Ian McKellen, who said this on Twitter:
I hope @itsjojosiwa puts aside any negative reaction to her coming-out, at a time when she deserves praise and empathy for taking control of her life in such a public way.
Perhaps the esteemed British actor caught wind of the stories about JoJo Siwa clapping back against that mom, or maybe he just has his own lifetime of experiences when it comes to dealing with closed-minded fans. Whatever the reason or the case, McKellen's words were championed by many.
Considering JoJo Siwa has been rocking big bows and Pride color schemes for seemingly as long as she's been in the public eye, fans had previously speculated about the entertainer's sexuality, though her relationship with Mark Bontempo, which ended in November 2020, didn't provide easy answers in that department. And for what it's worth, Siwa clarified in a later Instagram video that she didn't know where to place herself on the LGBTQ spectrum, or what label to use for classification, and that she wanted to keep certain private things on the down low until she felt comfortable sharing them with her bazillion followers.
This isn't the first time in 2021 that Sir Ian McKellen took to social media to congratulate a fellow entertainer for going public with a big announcement. Earlier in January, McKellen shared his happiness for Elliot Page after the fellow X-Men franchise co-star came out as transgender in December.
You can check out Ian McKellen's tweet to JoJo Siwa below!
Something tells me Ian McKellen didn't need to worry about JoJo Siwa's happiness, since the Masked Singer vet quite often appears to be the living embodiment of said emotion. Here's hoping we can all find our own pocket of satisfaction and merriment, even if we don't all look as good with bows in our hair as Siwa does.
