and social-media superstar.

I mean, seriously superstar.

She has 32 million followers on TikTok

and over 12 million subscribers on her YouTube channel.

She works hard. She deserves it.

She's currently working on a new project

that she is announcing tonight.

I can't wait. Here is Jojo Siwa!

-Hey! I'm so excited!

Thank you for having me. -Welcome back.

Thanks for being here.

I know it's over zoom, but we appreciate it.

We have so much to talk about. -We do.

-One of the things I love about you

and your fans love about you is that you are always yourself.

You're always you. -Yes.

-And you're always leading by example

and spreading positivity, very positive.

-Thank you. -And you continue to do that

now more than ever. Two weeks ago, you posted this.

You opened up about being part of the LGBTQ community,

and immediately, love started pouring in

from all over the world. How does it feel?

Where were you in your head at the time?

-It was the most insane thing ever.

I mean, literally everyone and their brother messaged me,

called me, texted me, sent me an Instagram message, tweeted me.

It was the most love, I think, I've ever received,

and the coolest thing about it was it was just by me

showing the world the last little piece of me

that they haven't seen yet, and it was really awesome.

-Did you plan on doing it?

-So, that's actually what's funny about it.

So, I was doing TikToks with the people

who are in the Pride House.

That's, like, what their TikTok house is called,

is the Pride House. And I love them.

I've known them all for years, and so we were like,

"Let's just do some TikToks together

before I leave for Canada." And they come over,

and we're doing this TikTok, and I was like,

"I think this TikTok that we're doing to 'Ain't It Fun,'"

I was like, "I think this is gonna out me."

And I was like, "I don't really mind, because it is true."

I do have the most amazing, wonderful, perfect

most beautiful girlfriend in the whole world.

It's not something I'm ashamed of.

I just haven't shown the Internet yet.

And there's always been speculations, of course,

but so then I was like, "I think this is gonna out me."

So then I posted that -- they posted that,

and, of course, it did, and people started commenting --

and people started commenting to me, "Is this you coming out?

Like, is this you coming out? What is this? What is this?"

So I was like, "You know what I can do?

I can either mess with them and, like, tease a little bit,

I could either confirm it, because it is true,

or I can just kind of do nothing about it

and just kind of leave it there."

And I was like, "I want to do a TikTok to 'Born This Way.'"

'Cause it is true. I don't really want to be like,

"Yeah, it's true," right away, but I was like,

"I want people to know that, like, it's okay."

So I did this TikTok to "Born This Way,"

and everyone was like, "Whoa! This is her coming out!

This is her coming out! This is the moment!"

And I was like, "I..."

And then, my cousin had gotten me that shirt.

I took that picture like a week before

I posted it, and I actually -- I put it on

my close friend's Instagram story,

and all my friends know, all my family knows.

And then, one day, I was on FaceTime with my girlfriend.

This is the day after I posted the "Born This Way" TikTok.

And I was on FaceTime with her, and we were just

talking about it and talking about all the love

that came in, and we were both like,

"Technically, I still haven't confirmed it."

And so I was like, "I kind of want to post

this picture on my real story."

And she was super encouraging. She was like, "Do it."

and I was like, "All right!" And I did it.

And the funny thing is, is 10 minutes before I did that,

you can only imagine the press storm that was happening.

I mean, it was insane. -Yeah.

And 10 minutes before I posted that, my publicist was like,

"So, are you gonna confirm it?" and I was like,

"No, I'm not gonna confirm it yet."

10 minutes later, I post that picture and start texting her.

I was like, "Hey. So about not confirming it,

go look at my story." -"It's out."

Did you -- Did you -- Did you put your phone down?

Because you probably go like...

Either way, you're gonna get feedback.

You're gonna get good stuff, and you're gonna get bad stuff.

-Totally. -And you know it's gonna

start a conversation. -Yeah.

-And you're like, "Once I press this button..."

-There's no going back. -Yes.

-My thing with "coming out" is

it can be a very scary thing, you know?

Of course not everybody in the world is going to

accept it right now, but there are so many people

that are going to accept it right now.

And like I say, even if there's a million people --

say there's a million people -- that's a lot of people

that don't accept it, there's 100 million that do.

And I think that's something really important.

100 million is a lot of people, and so always keep that in mind.

But, also, I was like, "I don't want it to have to be

such a big thing." Like, what am I gonna do?

Like, have a coming-out party? No, it's just who I am.

And so, after I posted it, I was just kind of like,

"All right! I'll do it." Like, I was on the phone spontaneous,

like, 'cause she -- we're long-distance,

and so I was like, "All right, I did it."

Back to FaceTiming with her. And then it was like

two days later, I was again on the phone.

We're on the phone literally 24/7.

Both of our families get so annoyed at us, but it's okay.

It doesn't matter. But I was like,

"You know what I realized? How risky that was."

And she was like, "Well, what do you mean?"

And I was like, "Well, technically,

that was a really big risk that I took posting that."

But I was like, "But honestly --"

And she's like, "Why? Because you could've lost everything?"

And I was like, "Yeah. But if I lost everything

that I've created because of being myself

and because of loving who I want to love,

I don't want it. That's not what I want

if I can't love who I want to love."

That's one of the most important things to me.

And it was about 10 minutes before I came out

to do this interview today, I was again on the phone

with my girl, and I started crying.

And she's like, "What's wrong with you?"

And I was like, "I'm just so happy."

I was like, "Because now I get to share

what makes me the happiest with the world,

and it makes my heart so happy."

-There's a lot to be happy about.

I want to congratulate you, because you were named

one of Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People of 2020.

Now, you are 17 years old

and one of the most influential people on the planet.

-Crazy. -How does it feel,

and do you feel different? -Isn't that crazy?

I mean, it is insane.

I don't feel different. I mean, nothing changed,

but I guess I didn't really realize what a big deal it was

until I actually saw the list

and saw the other people that were on it,

and then I was like, "Whoa. Like, this is a huge honor."

And, I mean, it's insane,

and I'm so thankful, and I'm so grateful.

Actually, something funny that came from it is,

we created a new game in my family and my close friends.

So, my best friend, Nate, we made a game

where I try to influence people to do something.

And it's the smallest things.

So, say we have a whole bunch of pizzas, and I'll be like,

to somebody, I'll be like, "Oh, my gosh.

Yeah, the cheese is good, but the pepperoni,

you gotta try the pepperoni."

And if I get them to do it, Nate and I look at each other,

and we're like, "Time 100, baby!

Up top!" -"That's how influential I am.

Look at how influential -- He doesn't even like pepperoni."

-We try. We try so hard, and it works.

And it's -- well, all the time, we're like, "Top 100, baby.

That's me." -Yeah. Why not?

I saw you did something over quarantine,

because obviously, we all had to cut the tours short

and all this no live events, and, you know, you --

when you're a performer, you have to perform.

We've had people on the show, comedians going like,

"I just miss it. I have to.

It's part of me." -Yeah.

-And you did something very cool.

You built a stage in your backyard.

-I did, I did. So, my mom was watching people

perform, like, from their living room,

and I was watching people perform from their couch.

And I was like, "I want to see a concert."

And my mom was like, "You should do one of these."

So, that was kind of where it came from, from me.

I was like, "I want to do one."

And my mom was like, "You should do one."

And I was like, "But I -- I can't."

I was like, "I can't sit on my couch and sing a song.

It just doesn't -- It doesn't work."

Like, I literally don't know how to do that.

I say all the time, "I'm an Ameri-can, not an Ameri-can't,"

but, like, I can't do that.

And she was -- she was like, "So then don't."

She was like, "Build a stage."

And I was like, "Well, all right."

And so I started looking on Amazon, and I was like,

"All right," I have these platforms in my cart,

and I was just gonna, like, do it for one week.

And then I was like, "This still doesn't feel right."

So I message my friend who kind of just can do anything.

And I was like, "Hey.

Do you have a guy that could help me build a stage?"

And she was like, "Yeah, let me get on it."

-[ Laughs ] I love it. Two seconds --

"Yeah. Of course." -Two seconds.

She was like, "Yeah, yeah, totally."

And so now it turned into this whole thing,

and it's so awesome, and it's so incredible.

I did it every Friday. I think I did --

I think I did 12 of them and then a few dance videos, too,

and it was just so much fun, you know?

And we put on full-blown shows of singing and dancing

and lights and music and a stage and costumes.

-Good for you. -And it was just --

It kept me so happy. We would shoot, like,

three of them in a week, and it just, that week,

I was always the happiest human.

-Speaking of costumes,

you have one of the biggest empires of consumer products.

I told you my girls are fans of yours,

and so we have bows all over the house,

we have headphones with bows on them, we have --

Your books, by the way, are fantastic.

-I love it. -We -- It's just --

I think they kind of started writing diaries.

But I think I've read somewhere

you've sold over 80 million hair bows.

Is that wild? -It's crazy.

It's so incredible. I'm so thankful.

I mean, my mom and I actually have been selling bows

for much longer than people think.

I'll never forget when I was --