JoJo Siwa is about to make television history.
The triple-threat YouTube phenom will become the first celebrity to be part of a same-sex pairing on Dancing With the Stars.
ABC announced during the Television Critics Association press tour on Thursday (Aug. 26) that the Dance Moms alum will compete in its 30th season this fall along with Olympic gold medalist Suni Lee of the U.S. gymnastics team. Siwa, who is queer and pansexual, will be teamed up with a female professional dancer, marking the first-ever pairing of its kind in the show’s history.
“I think it breaks a wall that’s never been broken down before,” Siwa told Good Morning America about her upcoming DWTS experience.”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.”
Siwa noted that despite her excitement, she and her dance partner, who has not yet been revealed, will have many unique challenges to overcome.
“There [are] a lot of barriers that we’re going to have to break through,” the singer-dancer-actress admitted. “Who leads? How do you dress? What shoes do you wear? But I think it’s all something that I’m looking forward to.”
Siwa also shared that producers emailed her asking if she wanted to compete on the show, and that she responded yes before seeing them ask if she preferred a male or female dance partner, as they were aware that Siwa came out as queer earlier this year.
“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,” Siwa explained. “So right away, it wasn’t a question.”
The Season 30 premiere of Dancing With the Stars airs on ABC Sept. 20 at 8 PM ET.
See JoJo Siwa’s celebratory (and chaotic) TikTok below: