JoJo Siwa Opens Up About The ‘Brutal’ Backlash She Received For Controversial Magazine Cover

JoJo Siwa is getting candid about the “brutal” backlash she has faced for posing with a fake bulge for a recent magazine cover.

While appearing last week on the “Talk Tuah” podcast hosted by Haliey Welch, who’s known as the viral “Hawk Tuah Girl,” the singer and dancer said it was “really hard” being criticized for the viral photo shoot, in which she sported a bedazzled faux bulge.

“It’s brutal,” she told Welch. “It’s really hard. People are just dicks.”

In the September photo shoot for LadyGunn, Siwa also posed in a strapless, jeweled top featuring nipples and mock abs, which she paired with gold combat boots.

The “Dance Moms” alum explained her decision to don the controversial accessory.

“The stone bulge is — we were just giving a little spice, a little gender-bend, a little, you can be anything you want to be,” Siwa said. “It just was spicing myself up a little.”

Siwa then compared her sparkly bulge look to Harry Styles’ controversial Vogue cover in 2020, in which he wore several traditionally female garments, including skirts and dresses.

“It’s like back in the day when Harry Styles wore a dress,” Siwa noted. “Obviously, wearing a bulge is a little different than wearing a dress.”

Welch replied, “You stuck out. I think you should do more of that, though.”

Siwa explained that she likes to push boundaries and dabble in the “risk zone” with her ensembles.

“One thing about me is I like to be for the people that are different, for the people that don’t fit in and for the people who are just unafraid to take risks,” Siwa said. “I feel like being that person, I have to go as far as I possibly can into the risk zone. I have to explore the risk zone to see what it’s like.”

Last month, the “Karma” singer turned heads with yet another risqué fashion look at Christian Cowan’s New York Fashion Week show.

Siwa hit the Sept. 8 runway show dressed as a giant ball covered in black fur. She paired the leg-baring outfit with knee-high furry green boots and coordinating green makeup.

At the event, the former Nickelodeon star told E! News that she and her team have saved every single outfit she’s worn publicly since she was 9 years old.

“Everything that I’ve ever worn publicly, like for a music video, for a performance, we have in an archive,” Siwa told the outlet. “So I have it all saved, from the time I was 9 — everything I wore on TV. It’s way too many things. We got to clean it out one day.”