UPDATED 4/12/25, 1:27 p.m. ET: JoJo Siwa's mom, Jessalynn Siwa, had some words for Mickey Rourke after he made homophobic remarks about her daughter.
On Friday, Jessalynn Siwa shared a post on Instagram in which she shared her thoughts on Rourke's offensive rhetoric toward her daughter on Celebrity Big Brother UK.
Siwa said she wasn't surprised that Rourke didn't get booted from the show for his comments and was proud of how her daughter handled the moment.
"Honestly, I'm not surprised he didn't go home," the Dance Moms alum said. "I knew he wouldn't. I'm really sad, though, that I sent my kid to a foreign country to do a foreign TV show, and she got treated like that right away, right out of the gate. I think she handled it great."
She then spoke on how lucky she is that her celebrity daughter can handle herself in those situations. She acknowledged how people have made it a "culture" and "game" to criticize JoJo instead of taking things for what they are.
JoJo Siwa's partner, Kath Ebbs, also responded to Rourke and reiterated that Siwa handled the moment with grace.
"Jo is one of the kindest most generous people I have ever come to know, let alone had the privilege to call my partner," Ebbs said on Instagram. "We all witnessed misogyny play out on national television these last two days and the support for her has been swift, which it should be."
See original story below.
Mickey Rourke is facing backlash over homophobic remarks toward JoJo Siwa.
According to Deadline, the incident occurred this week in the Celebrity Big Brother UK house, where Rourke, Siwa, and 11 other contestants are competing for a cash prize. During Wednesday’s broadcast, Rourke asked the Dance Moms alum if she liked “girls or boys.” Siwa, who came out as gay in early 2021, informed her housemate she “liked” the former, to which Rourke replied, “I know. I can tell.”
Later that day, Rourke suggested Siwa would turn straight if he survived the upcoming elimination: “If I stay longer than four days, you won’t be gay anymore.”
“I can guarantee I’ll still be gay,” replied Siwa, who is dating non-binary DJ/queer advocate Kath Ebbs. “And I’ll still be in a very happy relationship.”
But the awkward exchange didn’t end there. Rourke proceeded to tell the other contestants he planned to “vote the lesbian out” — a comment that Siwa immediately called out.
“That’s homophobic if that’s your reasoning,” Siwa said from across the yard.
Rourke later announced he needed “a f-g,” while seemingly gesturing toward Siwa. Contestant Chris Hughes immediately came to Siwa’s defense, telling The Wrestler actor he “couldn’t say that.”
“I know. I was talking about a cigarette,” Rourke said, referring to the British slang term for a cigarette.
Siwa became emotional after the exchange, which prompted production to reprimand Rourke. The 72-year-old actor was called into the “Diary Room” and received a warning over his behavior.
“Big Brother thinks your language was offensive and unacceptable,” he was told. “As a result, Big Brother is giving you a formal warning. Further language or behavior of this nature could lead to you being removed from the Big Brother house.”
Rourke told producers he understood and was simply “talking smack.”
“I wasn’t taking it all so serious,” he said. “I didn’t mean in it any bad intentions and if I did, sorry.”
Rourke then issued an apology directly to Siwa, claiming he had “a habit of having a short fuse.”
“I don’t mean nothing by it,” he told Siwa. “I do mean it [sorry]. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t say it to you.”
Rourke’s representative, Kimberly Hines, addressed the controversy in a statement to Us Weekly, saying her client “speaks from his heart and means well.”
“He is old school, direct, and honest,” Hines told the outlet. “I have worked closely with him for nine years, and he is 100 percent authentically himself. There will never be another Mickey Rourke. Period.”