JoJo Siwa's Asbestos Makeup Controversy

Overview

JoJo Siwa's Asbestos Makeup Controversy refers to the recall of a makeup line branded by Nickelodeon star JoJo Siwa, which had tested positive for asbestos. After the recall, Siwa announced that the product had been removed from shelves.

Background

On June 6th, 2019, the United States Food and Drug Administration tweeted,^[1][2] "Today, the FDA is releasing new results from its continued testing of cosmetic products for asbestos & is warning consumers to not use 2 additional products that have tested positive for asbestos & have been recalled." The post received more than 270 likes and 200 retweets in less than one month (shown below).

Developments

Siwa's Response

On June 15th, Siwa published a video about the controversy, announcing that the makeup line had been removed. In the video, she said, "This product is something that, with a lot of things, that I put my trust into other people’s hands. We are working really, really hard to make sure that this product is recalled and off all shelves,” she said. “And also that anyone who has this product, you can get a refund. […] If it’s used or it’s unused, you can get a full refund." Within one week, the post received more than 254,000 views (shown below).

According to USA Today,^[3] the makeup retailer Claire's, who sold the product, said that they had voluntarily removed the product from shelves. They continued:

Claire’s stands behind the safety of this item and all other Claire’s cosmetic items, as such small trace amounts are considered acceptable under European and Canadian cosmetic safety regulations. In addition, last year Claire’s moved to talc-free cosmetic manufacturing to prevent any further concerns about talc contamination. Claire’s also supports increased FDA oversight of personal care products.

Twitter^[5] user @lookner tweeted, "This is an odd response video from @itsjojosiwa after her makeup kit was recalled for asbestos --It's 1 minute long --It starts with a joke --It came out 11 days after the recall --Comments are disabled --She never apologizes" (shown below, left).

Siwa responded,^[6] "- I’m a Minor so comments are disabled by YouTube’s LAW. – I said everything I wanted to in that minute, I don’t need to talks for 45 about it. – It does start with a joke because my main audience is kids and I want them to know in life the tough things are easier if you smile." The post received more than 3,000 likes and 160 retweets in less than one week (shown below, right).

Online Response

Some fans defended Siwa online. Twitter user @haschasarvey tweeted,^[7] "It’s not Jojo Siwa’s fault her makeup has asbestos in it, Christ" (shown below).

On June 20th, YouTuber PewDiePie mocked the controversy on his YouTube channel. The post received more than 4.1 million views in less than 24 hours (shown below, left).

Following the post, some created memes also mocking the issue. For example, on June 21st, Redditor ^[8] AleAlexiis posted a Stonks meme about the controversy (shown below, right).

Media Coverage

Several media outlets covered the controversy, including USA Today,^[3] BuzzFeed, ^[9] Paper,^[10] TeenVogue,^[11] CBS^[12] and more.

Search Interest

External References