UPDATE — 4/10/25, at 11:55 a.m. ET: Mickey Rourke’s rep is speaking out after the actor received a warning for his controversial language in the Celebrity Big Brother UK house.
“Mickey speaks from his heart and means well,” Rourke’s rep Kimberly Hines said in a statement to Us Weekly. “He is old school, direct and honest. I have worked closely with him for nine years and he is 100 percent authentically himself. There will never be another Mickey Rourke. Period.”
Original story:
JoJo Siwa is calling out Mickey Rourke for what she described as “homophobic” behavior.
While competing on Celebrity Big Brother UK, Rourke, 72, asked the Dance Moms alum, 21, if she liked girls or boys.
“Me? Girls,” she replied. “My partner [Kath Ebbs] is non-binary.”
When Rourke stated that if he stayed “longer than four days, you won’t be gay anymore,” Siwa couldn’t help but respond.
“I can guarantee I’ll still be gay,” she said, “And I’ll still be in a very happy relationship.”
Later in the episode, Rourke reportedly told costar Chris Hughes that he was “going to vote the lesbian out real quick.” When Siwa overheard his remarks, she replied, “That’s homophobic, if that was your reasoning.”
Rourke later said, “I need a f**.” According to reports, he gestured to Siwa and added, “I’m not talking to you.” Hughes, 32, called him out over the comment, to which Rourke replied, “I know. I was talking about a cigarette.”
The comments caught the attention of Celebrity Big Brother UK producers, who called the actor to the “diary room” where he was issued a strong warning.
“Mickey, before you entered the Big Brother house, the rules regarding unacceptable language and behavior were explained to you,” an announcer said. “Big Brother thinks your language was offensive and unacceptable. As a result, Big Brother is giving you a formal warning. Further language or behavior of this nature could lead to you being removed from the Big Brother house.”
Rourke replied that he “can understand that” and proceeded to state he was “just talking smack.”
“I wasn’t taking it all so serious,” he said. “I didn’t mean in it any bad intentions and if I did, sorry.”
Rourke later apologized directly to Siwa saying, “I want to apologize. 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.”
While Siwa said she appreciated the apology, other viewers weren’t so quick to move on.
In a comment on Celebrity Big Brother UK’s official Instagram, Chrishell Stause — who is married to non-binary musician G Flip — expressed her support for Siwa.
“Just read an article about what he said,” she wrote. “Just here to support Jojo and I hope he gets evicted asap.”
In a statement to Variety, a spokesperson for ITV — which airs the show — said: “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 behavior and language. Housemates are monitored 24 hours a day and instances of inappropriate behavior are dealt with appropriately and timely.”
Us Weekly has reached out to Rourke’s team for comment.
