“Dancing With the Stars” will feature its first same-sex couple, the ABC ballroom dance competition revealed Thursday.
Jojo Siwa, who was revealed as one of the contestants on the upcoming 30th season during a Television Critics Association panel, will compete on the new season with a female partner.
“I’m excited that I get to do it,” Siwa said. “I think it breaks a wall that’s never been broken down before. … Not only do I now get to share with the world that you get to love who you want to love, but also, you get to dance with who you want to dance with. I think it’s really special.”
“There [are] a lot of barriers that we’re going to have to break through,” she continued. “Who leads? How do you dress? What shoes do you wear? But I think it’s all something that I’m looking forward to.”
“You’re making history, JoJo,” host Tyra Banks added. “This is history.”
ABC revealed earlier Thursday that Siwa and Olympic gymnast Sunisa “Suni” Lee will be among the cast for the 30th season this fall. Both joined Banks and executive producer Andrew Llinares for Thursday’s panel.
“When I got the email [with] the subject ‘Dancing with the Stars,’ I didn’t even read the email. I just replied, Yes,” Siwa said. “I didn’t look at the time, I didn’t look at anything. I just knew I wanted to do it. Then finally I gathered my thoughts and I ended up going back and reading the email. And in the email it said, ‘Jojo, would you like to be partnered with a girl or with a boy?’”
Siwa said she replied “without hesitation” that she would want to dance with another woman. “It would be so incredible, it would mean so much to me — and I think so much to a lot of people around the world — if I partnered with another female. So right away, it wasn’t a question.”
Siwa’s partner won’t be revealed until the season premiere on Sept. 20, but the former “Dance Moms” star named a few pros she hoped might end up being her partner for the season.
“I think Lindsay [Arnold] is awesome. Jenna [Johnson] is incredible. Britt [Stewart] is amazing. I think if I got one of those three I would just be so happy,” she said.
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