Stanford students grew impatient waiting for JoJo Siwa’s entrance to the stage at Memorial Auditorium, as chants of “JoJo” filled the room on Saturday. Siwa, who visited Stanford for an event hosted by the Stanford Speaker’s Bureau (SSB), expressed gratitude to interviewer Robert Joseph B.S. ’24, M.S. ’25 at being welcomed by the rowdy Stanford audience.
Siwa had been going viral on TikTok in the days leading up to her visit at Stanford due to her time on the reality TV show “Celebrity Big Brother UK”, during which she developed a “close bond” with co-star Chris Hughes. When heckled by an audience member on Saturday about being with “that guy”, Siwa responded with, “What guy?”
According to Joseph, this was the “wildest and most chaotic” SSB event he’d ever been a part of, adding that the energy in the room was similar to “Gaieties on frat night.”
The heckling of Siwa by the audience was far from an isolated incident. From the second floor, an audience member cried out, “I’m not gay, but JoJo is JoJo,” prompting Siwa to laugh. “I don’t know what that means, but yes, I am JoJo,” Siwa said.
Though many of Joseph’s questions centered around Siwa’s early years on the hit reality TV show “Dance Moms” and her recent time on “Big Brother”, Siwa also shared part of one of her upcoming songs with the audience, following many pleas to sing some of her past hits, such as “Boomerang”, “Karma” or her cover of Olivia Rodrigo’s “Traitor”.
“It was really cool to meet JoJo, and both she and her mom were genuinely so kind and down to earth. I was a little nervous for the interview but JoJo was super encouraging and very easy to talk to,” Joseph said.
About half-way through the event, one audience member — Bryan Nguyen ’28 — got up to perform Siwa’s iconic “Karma” choreography in the aisle, which became a viral trend last year.
Nguyen, who performed Siwa’s “Karma” choreo multiple times over the past months both for his dorm mates and in public, said that when he found out Siwa was visiting Stanford, he knew he “had to do” the “Karma” dance.
“I was inspired by that one guy who sings for celebrities,” Nguyen said, referencing TikTok star Harry Daniels. His choreography was accompanied with a short rendition of the “Karma” chorus, which Siwa joined in the last line of.
“That was really cool,” said Nguyen.
Despite the rowdy audience, Siwa appeared to enjoy her time in Memorial Auditorium, taking selfies from the stage and engaging with audience members post-talk. Siwa was handed a laurel wreath by Stanford students, who urged her to attend one of the many parties on campus Saturday night.
“Y’all’s town is absolutely beautiful and I would like to come to explore,” said Siwa. “One day.”