JoJo Siwa Slams Nickelodeon for Treating Her ‘As Only a Brand’
JoJo Siwa is standing up for herself and for her music.
On Tuesday (Sept. 14) the Dance Moms alum alleged that Nickelodeon will now allow her to perform her own music during her upcoming D.R.E.A.M. North American tour, which was rescheduled due to the pandemic. The shows will promote her two EPs, 2018's D.R.E.A.M. The Music and 2019's Celebrate.
"I go out on tour in January," she began in a series of tweets. "My movie musical was just released (with 6 new original songs)… Nickelodeon told me today that I’m not allowed to perform/add any of the songs from the film into my show. These are MY songs, MY voice, MY writing. Does this seem fair???""
Siwa wrote and recorded new songs for her Nickelodeon television film, The J-Team. Although she performed some of the songs during her premiere, it seems as though the network, which owns some of the rights to the tracks, aren't allowing her to perform them.
"There is no reason that this music should not be included," Siwa continued. "Working for a company as a real human being treated as only a brand is fun until it’s not."
This isn't the first time Siwa has taken charge of her career. She previously asked Paramount to remove a scene where she kisses a boy in her upcoming film, Bounce.
"I'm madly in love and I do not want to kiss another human," she told Entertainment Weekly in June. "Especially because it's a man."
"That's what they look at me as, not some character, not some fictional thing," she added. "And so it's going to be a little weird."
Her request was answered, and Siwa said that Paramount and her co-star supported her decision.
"[They] assured me that I don't have to do anything I don't wanna do ever!!!" she tweeted. "I'm so excited to make the movie Bounce and couldn't have better people to make it with!!"