JoJo Siwa says she's the 'CEO of gay pop,' not the inventor

On Wednesday, April 10, TMZ caught up with JoJo Siwa who clarified that while she may not be the inventor of gay pop, she would like another title when it comes to the genre.

The 20-year-old recently released her new, super-queer pop song "Karma," and during a recent interview with Billboard, she shared the story of a conversation she had with the label.

"When I first signed with Columbia, I said I wanted to start a new genre of music," Siwa revealed. "They said, 'What do you mean?' and I said, 'It's called 'gay pop.' It's like K-pop but it's gay pop."

She quickly received backlash from critics online and felt the need to clarify the comments.

"I think I just want to make it more clear that gay pop is a genre," she said.

Siwa does seem to be aware that any comment she makes will be hyper-criticized on social media, but she goes on to name other "people who have made gay-pop" like Betty Who, Madonna, and... Michael Jackson?

It's unclear what gay-pop Michael Jackson created exactly, but Siwa concluded the moment by retracting her statement that she originated the genre.

“I’m definitely not the inventor of gay pop," she said. "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.”

"Karma" is now available on streaming platforms. And speaking of gay pop, click here to see Out's 25 definitive classics from the genre!