JoJo Siwa has revealed she was the victim of a swatting prank, as she was forced outside of her LA home by police.
The YouTube star, 17, explained her home was surrounded and she was forced to step outside with her hands up.
Recalling the ‘scary’ incident on an Instagram live with her friend Nate Javi, JoJo said she thinks she was targeted after coming out to fans online.
Explaining what had happened, JoJo said on social media: ‘We were at our house and all of a sudden there was a whole bunch of police yelling at us to come outside and we didn’t know why. We went outside with our hands up, because obviously we had to follow the rules and do what we had to do.
‘And then the police were saying that somebody had called and made a claim and then all of a sudden paparazzi came from around the corner. It’s called swatting.’
Adding why she thinks she was set up, JoJo said: ‘I think because I recently told the internet how happy I was and told the internet that I am what I am – the only reason I’m not saying what I am is because I don’t really know, I know that I’m really happy and that’s all that matters – but since I recently “came out” to the internet, that’s officially the term, the media is obviously very excited, which I love and I love the support.’
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She continued: ‘For me, it was no big deal to walk outside my house, I’m ok, but I feel bad because there was about 50 police outside our house and those police could have had much better time spent somewhere else, actually helping somebody instead of dealing with a fake claim. It was really scary.’
Urging her followers not to put others in the same situation, she said: ‘Never prank the police, that is a very wrong thing to do and it is very, very illegal and the people who did that will get in trouble, they will get in a lot of trouble, possibly serve time? I don’t know.’
JoJo said that when the police turned up she feared that ‘somebody was in the house and I didn’t know about it’, or that somebody was hiding in her backyard.
The situation unfolded after JoJo was praised by fans for publicly addressing her sexuality. She chose to do so by sharing a snap of her rocking a T-shirt that read: ‘Best Gay Cousin Ever,’ and subtly captioned it: ‘My cousin got me a new shirt.’
Fans and celebrities alike were seen showering JoJo with love following her post, with the teen star later revealing she is choosing not to label her sexuality.
‘I have thought about this, and the reason I’m not going to say this answer is because I don’t really know this answer. I think humans are awesome, I think humans are really incredible people,’ she said.
‘Right now, I’m super duper happy and I want to share everything with the world, I really do, but I also want to keep things in my life private until they are ready to be public.
‘Right now what matters is that you guys know that no matter who you love, that it’s okay and that it’s awesome and the world is there for you.’
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