O'Shae Sibley: Beyoncé pays tribute to gay Black man stabbed in possible hate crime
New York, New York - Beyoncé has paid tribute to O'Shae Sibley after the 28-year-old Brooklyn dancer was killed while voguing to one of her songs.
"Rest in Power O'Shae Sibley," Beyoncé's website reads as of Tuesday.
The Grammy-winning artist's message came after Sibley, a gay Black man, was stabbed to death outside a Coney Island gas station over the weekend. He was reportedly dancing and voguing to Beyoncé's Renaissance at the time of the attack.
The killing, captured in the gas station's surveillance footage, is currently being investigated as a potential hate crime.
Police say the suspect, who fled from the scene, is 17 years old. The group of men he was with reportedly spouted homophobic slurs as they approached Sibley and his friends.
"They murdered him because he’s gay, because he stood up for his friends," Otis Pena, one of Sibley's friends who was with him during his killing, said on Facebook. "His name was O'Shae and you all killed him. You all murdered him right in front of me."
Sibley, a professional dancer and choreographer, was known for using his talents to advocate for Black and LGBTQ+ rights.
"O'shae not only was the glue to this family, he was a great dancer and performer for the majority of his life," Sibley's father, Jake Kelly, wrote on a GoFundMe page he created to help the family cover funeral expenses.
"His spirit lit up every room he stepped in. His smile was contagious! To know him, was to live him. He did not deserve this. Everyone loved his spirit."
Cover photo: Collage: Robyn Beck / AFP & Screenshot/Facebook/O'Shae L Sibley