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JoJo Siwa has shared details of an unaired conversation with fellow Celebrity Big Brother star Mickey Rourke, after the actor made homophobic remarks towards her.
The Hollywood actor, 72, used a homophobic slur during a conversation with singer Siwa, 21, about her sexuality during the first week of the ITV reality show.
After asking the Dance Moms star if she “like[s] girls or boys”, Rourke told Siwa that “if I stay longer than four days, you won’t be gay anymore”, before claiming that he would “tie [her] up”.
He also told fellow contestants that he was going to “vote out the lesbian real quick”.
Rourke received a formal warning following the incident, and was removed from the Big Brother house just a few days later for “further use of inappropriate language and instances of unacceptable behaviour”. This arrived following a disagreement with fellow contestant Chris Hughes and a lewd comment directed towards The Only Way is Essex’s Ella Rae Wise.
Reflecting on the incident on the Viall Files podcast, Siwa claimed that Rourke told her, in a conversation that never made it to air, that he had deliberately tried to offend her.
“What really tipped me over the edge is he then said to me, ‘I knew what I was saying and that’s why I said it,’” Siwa said. “‘I wanted to offend you. I knew it was going to offend you and that’s why I wanted to do it. I like poking at a bear.’”
“None of that made it [to air],” Siwa added, before admitting that the moment “shook [her] up”.
“I believe the first [comment] that he said was ‘the lesbian over there’”, she continued. “You don’t really want to point somebody out as ‘the lesbian’. I just was genuinely giving him heads up.”
Siwa referred to Rourke as “just bizarre” and described the remarks he made about tying her up as “sexually inappropriate”.
The Independent has contacted ITV and Celebrity Big Brother producers Banijay for further comment.
In scenes aired on the show, Rourke said sorry to Siwa, telling her: “I want to apologise. I’ve got a habit of having a short fuse. And I don’t mean nothing by it. I do mean it [sorry]. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t say it to you.”
In a statement shared at the time, a spokesperson for the programme told The Independent: “All Housemates receive Respect and Inclusion training and an extensive briefing from the Big Brother Senior team to prepare them for living in the House and to set out Big Brother’s expectation for appropriate behaviour and language.”
“Housemates are monitored 24 hours a day and instances of inappropriate behaviour are dealt with appropriately and timely.”
English (US) ·