JoJo Siwa is using her sexuality as a publicity stunt, and it’s not even a good one.

Siwa has spent years trying to get out of the shadow of her time on “Dance Moms,” a reality TV show that ran from 2011 to 2019, only to find herself amid a messy PR stunt that has backfired, making her the laughing stock of the internet.

Siwa is, of course, no stranger to controversy, from remaining friends with alleged sexual predators James Charles and Shane Dawson to her and her mother’s alleged mistreatment of members of the XOMG POP! group.

Her desperation to be taken more seriously as an adult in the entertainment industry has led to the release of her new song, “Karma,” which she claimed to have written.

In an interview with Billboard, she said that the song’s lyrics scared her and that she was the first of her generation to have such a dramatic change of face. 

Of course, neither of these things is true.

“Karma” was originally written in 2012, with singer Brit Smith creating a music video before scrapping it from her debut album.

As for the dramatic change of face, Siwa is not alone; Dove Cameron, Sabrina Carpenter and Olivia Rodrigo are just a few examples of fellow Gen-Z child stars recreating themselves.

Siwa, who publicly came out as a member of the LGBTQ+ community in January of 2021, now says she wants to create a “new” music genre that she coined “gay pop.”

While she has clarified that she knows she didn’t create it, she wants to bring more attention to it.

“I’m definitely not the inventor of gay pop … But I do wanna be a piece of making it bigger than it already is. I wanna bring more attention to it. I’m not the creator … but I might be like the CEO or the CMO,” Siwa said, according to Pop Crave.

As a member of the LGBTQ+ community myself, I find her statements to be incredibly disrespectful towards other queer artists that have helped to lay the foundation of many genres of music and have been creating queer music for years.

Sapphic artists like Tegan and Sara, Girl in Red, King Princess, Kehlani and Clairo have been releasing LGBTQ+ pop songs for years, and those are just some modern examples. 

Lesley Gore, Sotiria Bellou, Dusty Springfield and Melissa Etheridge are all sapphic artists with songs dating back to the ‘70s.

To her credit, Siwa did credit Lady Gaga and Miley Cyrus as inspirations for her “new” genre, but Siwa is still way out of touch.

Siwa’s transformation is cringy and discredits the queers that came before her.

She needs to educate herself better on queer history and struggles, as well as learn that there is a time and place. 

She reminds me of a clickbait Roblox YouTuber who chooses one thing to hyperfixate on just to gain traction and views.

While I understand that finding yourself and your identity is an exciting and difficult journey, Siwa takes it too far with her new artificial rebrand.