JoJo Siwa Reveals Why She Doesn't Regret Calling Candace Cameron Bure the 'Rudest Celebrity' She's Met

JoJo Siwa stands by her decision to call Candace Cameron Bure the rudest celebrity she's met. On the most recent episode of the Viall Files podcast, the 20-year-old dancer broke down her feud with the Full House alum.

The drama started in July 2022, when, as part of a TikTok challenge, Siwa said Bure was "rudest celebrity" she's met. Siwa later revealed the encounter that led her to giving Bure that label; she asked Bure for a photo and the actress said no because it "wasn't a good time for her."

Siwa expanded on that story on the podcast, revealing that, after she walked away from the actress, she looked back and saw that Bure "was taking pictures with other kids," something that "stuck" with her as she was only 11 at the time

"Then people ran with it and all the gay community, all the LGBTQ community, was like, 'Yeah, get her!'... She has a very Christian audience. I think a lot of times too LGBTQ people [and] Christian people, some of them are great with each other, other times it's like, 'Let's go to war,'" Siwa recalled of the impact of her "rude" comment. "... Everyone started coming after her. Everyone started coming after me. We were both getting hit."

With that in mind, Bure called Siwa and posted about the exchange on Instagram, noting that there was "no drama" remaining between her and the Dance Moms alum.

"She called me. She was like, 'Can we make peace of this? What went on?' She apologized and I was like, 'Honestly, I appreciate that you called. If you make a post, I'll respond to it,'" Siwa said. "I responded to it, whatever, fine, and then after that [the] dust settled."

After that phone call, Siwa said she felt that she "shouldn't have posted that" TikTok, as she remembered thinking, "She didn't need that. I didn't need that. Let's learn the lesson for next time."

Four months later, Bure found herself embroiled in drama once again when she announced she was leaving Hallmark Channel for Christian conservative network Great American Family in an effort to "promote faith programming and good family entertainment" while keeping "traditional marriage at the core."

At the time, Siwa called Bure's statement "rude and hurtful to a whole community of people." Siwa still feels that way, explaining on the podcast that, while she believes Bure "should do a movie with traditional marriage" that wasn't what the backlash was about.

"It wasn't that she wants to do a movie about that, it was that she wants to do a movie about that to put down the LGBTQIA [community], and that she was going to specifically make movies that had no representation of LGBTQIA, which is fine, but it's fine if you are doing it because it's just your movie's storyline and it's just it is what it is, like... not everything needs to be gay, essentially," Siwa said. "But when you're doing it out of spite to say that, 'Too much is about LGBTQ, you guys suck, and I want to make a movie about traditional marriage and you're not traditional,' that got to me a little bit."

Bure later spoke out, saying in part that she has "great love and affection for all people" and noting "that people of all ethnicities and identities have and will continue to contribute to the network in great ways both in front of and behind the camera" in her GAC movies.

Even so, Bure's "traditional marriage" comments gave Siwa "a little sense of, like, 'OK, you and her are never going to agree. You and her are never going to be friends. You and her are never going to get along.'"

"I'm never going to be able to change her. She's not gonna be able to change me. We can both just live life. We can both just have fun," Siwa said. "But I wish she was able to be a little more open, a little more accepting."

In the wake of Bure's comments, Siwa has come to realize that she's "OK with calling her out in the way that I did."

"For a while I regretted it, but after I found out that article about her not wanting anything to do with LGBTQIA, that's my people," she said. "I've got to stand up for my people. That's messed up."

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