Beyoncé Honors Dancer O'Shae Sibley After He Was Fatally Stabbed While Voguing to Her Music

Beyoncé and O'Shae Sibley
Beyoncé and O'Shae Sibley
Kevin Mazur/WireImage for Parkwood/GOFUNDME

The New York Police Department is investigating the dancer's death as a possible hate crime.

Beyoncé is paying tribute to O'Shae Sibley after he was fatally stabbed over the weekend while voguing to her music. The singer took to her official website to pay homage to the dancer's memory. 

"Rest in power O'Shae Sibley," it reads in white text on a black background.

On Saturday night, the 28-year-old dancer was killed while he and his friends were filling up at a Brooklyn gas station. One of his friends, Otis Pena, filmed the night out for a Facebook Live post. 

"They were dancing," neighbor Beckenbaur Hamilton told CBS News. "They were filling up on gas, but they were voguing."

Per CBS News, surveillance video shows the victim involved in a dispute with a group of people outside the Midwood gas station on Saturday night. Witnesses said they were voguing to Renaissance -- Beyoncé's seventh studio album celebrating Black queerness and the ballroom scene where voguing originated -- when a man walked up to them and allegedly made homophobic comments. Police said the two groups of people argued, and that's when one man allegedly stabbed Sibley. One witness, who wanted to remain anonymous, said he tried to break up the argument.

The New York City Police Department said Sibley was stabbed after that argument and is investigating his death as a possible hate crime.

Sibley had moved from Philadelphia to New York to further his dancing career. Neighbors and friends told the outlet that Sibley often danced in public. 

"Homophobia and words can lead to ideologies and thoughts," friend Kemar Jewel told CBS News Philadelphia said, "and those thoughts can lead into actions. And those are the type of actions that took O'Shae away from this world."

Philadelphia dance organization Philadanco issued a statement on Sibley's death, sharing that the late dancer had been involved with them since he was a teenager.

"Philadanco would like to send our sincere Condolences to the family and loved ones of O'Shae Sibley. O'Shae was a student of the Philadelphia School of Dance Arts at Philadanco since the age of 14 and was also in our Apprentice Company D/2," the statement reads. "This news is absolutely heartbreaking and we believe no one deserves to be targeted for simply being themselves and living in their truth. We are keeping high hopes that Justice will be served. He will be missed dearly. We ask that you also keep his family and loved ones in your prayers."

"The Ailey organization mourns the tragic death of O'Shae Sibley, following an attack outside of a Brooklyn gas station on Saturday night," the Alvin Ailey American Dance Foundation's Ailey Extension said on Monday. "O'Shae was a cherished and devoted Ailey Extension student. He had incredible energy in the studio and was loved by instructors and fellow classmates."

On Tuesday, GLAAD released a statement regarding Sibley's death, calling attention to other issues plaguing the LGBTQ community. While calling Sibney's death part of a "disturbing rise in violence and harassment," the organization added that "this cannot continue."

"No one should have to fear for their safety just for being themselves," GLAAD continued. "Politicians spewing lies and proposing policies filled with disinformation, and media repeating their false and dangerous rhetoric unchallenged, are creating an incredibly hostile environment that endangers all LGBTQ people and all queer people of color."

Anyone with information about Sibley's death is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477), or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). You can also submit a tip via their website or via DM on Twitter, @NYPDTips. All calls are kept confidential.  

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