JoJo Siwa’s glittery jockstrap on magazine cover gets mixed reactions

Another day, another JoJo Siwa fashion choice that’s drawing mixed reactions.
In the Ladygunn magazine cover released Monday, Siwa pops a squat in gold combat boots and a rose gold rhinestone-encrusted masculine chest plate featuring sculpted abs, which is paired with a matching jockstrap. The outfit is designed by Kyle Farmery’s New York City-based Sparkyle Studio.
Siwa, 21, was looking for an outfit so wild it could be a “Halloween costume,” she told Ladygunn in an interview accompanying the photoshoot.
“We can’t just do a cool photo shoot and hope for the best,” she said. “It has to be like, what … is she wearing now? You know what I mean? It has to be what is the next Halloween costume.”
Among the top-liked comments under the Instagram post featuring the image are users expressing distaste and confusion. A comment about not liking the photos “at all” was co-signed by nearly 29,000 likes, and the second most popular take shared there’s “no hate, I’m honestly just confused.”
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Another user accused Siwa’s new management of “ruining her career.” However, one fan noted everyone “would eat it up” if Lady Gaga had done this photoshoot.
Though Siwa has not publicly addressed the mixed reactions to her styling choices, she re-posted an X, formerly Twitter, user who replied, “Loving your balls JoJo @itsjojosiwa. Always a showstopper. Never change girl.”
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When Oscar nominee Kristen Stewart received similar criticism earlier this year for appearing on the cover of Rolling Stone with her hand tucked into a (non-bejeweled) jockstrap she was wearing, she explained why the negative reactions reflected a double standard.
“It’s a little ironic because I feel like I’ve seen a lot of male pubic hair on the cover of things. I’ve seen a lot of hands in pants and unbuttoned,” she said on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” in March. “I think there’s a certain overt acknowledgment of a female sexuality that has its own volition in a way that is annoying for people who are sexist and homophobic.”
The “Dance Moms” alum, who came out as queer and pansexual in 2021 and chopped her iconic long blonde hair in 2022 before launching an edgier rebrand this year with her “Karma” music video, is no stranger to inciting social media reactions.
Siwa acknowledges she’s a pro at marketing herself and garnering attention online — an instinct inspired by infamous social media personalities Jake and Logan Paul.
“I learned at a very young age that in the public eye, any attention is attention…whether it be good attention or just attention,” she told Ladygunn. “I just signed with new management, and they’re great, amazing people. They were like, alright, we got to get people to rally around you and really start to like you. And I was like, oh no, that’s not the point.”
She’s aware that “no one wants to see me be boring” and revealed, “The part of me that the world doesn’t see is the person controlling the image you do see.”
She added, “My favorite thing to do on this earth is to entertain and to make people smile and laugh, whether or not they are laughing with me or laughing at me.
“Obviously, no one likes being hated, but I enjoy being entertaining, and that is how people are entertained.”