JoJo Siwa has spoken on her controversy with Celebrity Big Brother housemate Mickey Rourke after he was kicked off the show for inappropriate comments.
It's been a whirlwind for fans of the ITV reality show over the past few weeks, resulting in the split of JoJo Siwa and her partner Kath Ebbs at the show's after-party over the weekend.
The singer was highly criticised by TV viewers for her friendship with Love Island star Chris Hughes on the show, though since coming out of the house, the pair addressed their relationship on This Morning during Monday's (28 April) episode.
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Siwa claimed that she had 'beef' with her ex-partner prior to the split, but the singer/dancer also made headlines for her run-ins with American actor Mickey Rourke.
Rourke was kicked out of CBB for a number of comments that made other housemates feel uneasy, with homophobic comments towards Siwa as well as 'aggressive behaviour' towards others in the house.
The altercation came as they were dressed up as pirates, and Hughes looked at Rourke when it was suggested that a 'rat' was among them.
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The former boxer aggressively went up to Hughes, ignoring Siwa's attempts to stop him and saying: "Don’t eyeball me."
"Don’t f**king eyeball me, you c**t," he said, after Hughes said it was a joke.
Just days after receiving a formal warning, the 72-year-old was on his way out, and Siwa has now opened up on his behaviour.
A guest on the The Useless Hotline Podcast, the 21-year-old explained that after his homophobic comments, she knew she'd 'be an example of how to handle somebody like this', going on to call Rourke 'creepy' and 'not nice'.
"The Big Brother team was incredible, they made sure that I felt safe, Chris was incredible at making sure I felt safe, swapping beds and making sure that I had a gap between us," she recalled.
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Siwa added that everyone in the house 'rallied' even though it was only day two.
Reflecting on what happened, she admitted: "Everyone was scared to talk but I was like 'Am I the crazy one here? Am I being too sensitive?' that's what I was so afraid of."
Hosts George Clarke and Max Balegde assured her that this wasn't the case, as Siwa moved on to a moment in the kitchen after Siwa and Rourke argued that wasn't shown on TV.
She claimed: "He mentioned that he was doing it [making homophobic comments] on purpose and that's what really upset me, but that's actually what fuelled me to be like, 'Oh - you're broken inside'."
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Speaking about the 'eyeballing me' moment, which she said was the 'most iconic line of the whole series', Siwa said that she spoke to Rourke after he was called into the Diary Room.
She went on: "I sat down with him and I explained to him, 'Look obviously what you just did isn't cool, but also we've had decent conversation with each other I'm not condoning this behaviour.
"But I also understand that that probably happened to you when you were seven years old and some older man in your life probably looked at you and said 'Are you eyeballing me?' And then probably punched you."
Following Rourke's departure, a short statement from an ITV spokesperson read: "Mickey Rourke has agreed to leave the Celebrity Big Brother House this evening following a discussion with Big Brother regarding further use of inappropriate language and instances of unacceptable behaviour."
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LADbible has reached out to Mickey Rourke's representatives for comment.
Topics: JoJo Siwa, Mickey Rourke, Celebrity Big Brother, ITV, Celebrity, TV
Joshua Nair