Nickelodeon released a JoJo Siwa board game that has recently come under fire for its mature content. Now, the YouTube star is condemning the company for using her likeness to promote an "inappropriate" children's game.
"Over the weekend, it has been brought to my attention by my fans and followers on TikTok that my name and my image have been used to promote this board game that has some really inappropriate content," Siwa said to her fans on Instagram. "Now when companies make these games, they don't run every aspect by me, so I had no idea of the types of questions that were on these playing cards."
The Nickelodeon-branded board game is called JoJo's Juice, and is a trivia game that includes cards from four different categories: Truth or Dare, 2 Truths and a Lie, Who Knows Jojo Better? and Never has Jojo Ever!. It is recommended for children six years and older, but some of the questions listed on the cards have been called out for inappropriate, mature and sexual content. Some of the questions that have come under fire include: Have you ever walked in on someone naked or had someone walk in on you? Who in this room would you most like to date? Have you ever been arrested?
"When I first saw this, I was really, really, really upset at how gross these questions were, and so I brought it to Nickelodeon's attention immediately," Siwa said in her Instagram video. "And since then, they have been working to get this game stopped being made and also pulled from all shelves wherever it's being sold."
JoJo Siwa thanked her fans for bringing the game to her attention and ensured she is doing everything she can to remove the game from stores. "I hope you all know that I would've never ever ever approved or agreed to be associated with this game if I would've seen these cards before they started selling it," she told her Instagram viewers. "I love you all so much. Thank you for bringing this to my attention, so that way I could put a stop to it and I could get it fixed immediately."
"We respect and value the relationship JoJo Siwa has with her fans and take the concerns raised regarding the game JoJo's Juice very seriously," Nickelodeon and Spin Master Games, the manufacturers behind JoJo's Juice, said in a joint statement to USA Today. "This game is no longer being manufactured and we have requested that retailers pull any remaining product from their shelves."
JoJo Siwa is a dancer, singer and YouTube personality. She signed a contract with Nickelodeon in 2017 and starred in the 2018 series, The Jojo and BowBow Show Show. JoJo has also appeared in other children's shows including Bizaardvark and The Thundermans and on two seasons of Dance Moms.