YouTuber’s home ‘swatted’ hours after she came out

Law enforcement spilt onto the home of social media sensation JoJo Siwa last Sunday (24 January) as she was “swatted” mere moments after she came out.

The 17-year-old Dance Moms star told her 10.3 million Instagram followers that around “50 police officers” stormed her Los Angeles, California, property after a member of the press, she claimed, alleged an incident had occurred there. Prompting police to put her home on lockdown and force her outside.

The “really scary” incident unfolded mere moments after she came out as a member of the LGBT+ community. After uploading a photograph of herself in a “Best. Gay. Cousin. Ever” t-shirt, she clarified that she is not ready to “label” herself just yet.

Jojo Siwa pounced by paparazzi after being ‘swatted’

Alarm was first fuelled among fans after video footage of a rain-soaked Jojo Siwa chatting to Los Angeles Police Department officers, with at least seven police vehicles and a fire truck parked outside, went viral.

Siwa clarified in an Instagram video posted by pal and videographer Nate Javi that she was “swatted”.

“Basically, there’s this thing called swatting,” Siwa explained. “We’re at our house, and all of a sudden, there was a whole bunch of police telling us to come outside the house.

“We went outside, hands up, because you have to obviously follow the rules, and then the police were saying that somebody had called and made a claim.

“And then, all of a sudden, paparazzi came from around the corner,” she added.

“It’s called ‘swatting,’ where the media will actually call the police, so that way you have to come outside your house.

“I think because I recently came out to the internet, the media is obviously very excited, which I love, and I love the support. However, you could’ve just hung outside my house and I would’ve eventually come outside my house.

She added: “The only reason I’m not saying what I am is because I don’t know what I am but I know that I’m really happy and that’s all that matters.”

Siwa said she “felt bad” that officers responded to the call as she felt they “could’ve had a much better time spent somewhere else actually helping somebody, instead of dealing with a fake claim from paparazzi”.

It came just hours, she said, after she came out. During a 15-minute Instagram Live video, JoJo Siwa explained: “Now that the world gets to see this side of my life, it makes me really, really happy. I’ve been happy in this land for a minute now.”

However, when a fan asked what “label” she falls under, Siwa said she isn’t ready to publicly identify herself.

“I have thought about this and the reason why I am not ready to say this answer is because I don’t really know,” she said.

“I think humans are awesome, I think humans are really incredible people […] and I want to share everything with the world, but I also want to keep things in my life private until they’re ready to be public.”