Beyoncé paid tribute to O’Shea Sibley yesterday on on her website.
Sibley, a 28-year-old gay man who was a professional dancer was stabbed to death at a gas station near Coney Island over the weekend.
Friends were reportedly dancing and voguing to Beyoncé’s music when a group of men approached them. The group of men allegedly called Sibley and his friends antigay slurs.
After a scuffle, one of the men from the other group stabbed Sibley. He died after being taken to a local hospital.
The suspect, ran from the scene, but it was all captured on the gas station’s surveillance camera.
Yesterday, Beyoncé’s website read
Rest in Power O’Shea Sibley.”
Sibley was a dancer and was active in the ballroom scene, the music and dance scene that inspired Beyoncé’s Renaissance.
Family and friends have been left devastated by the violent attack. Otis Pena, one of Sibley’s friends who was with him when he was killed, said in a Facebook video,
They murdered him because he’s gay, because he stood up for his friends.
His name was O’Shae and you all killed him. You all murdered him right in front of me.”
Public officials have also spoken out against Sibley’s death. U.S. Rep. Ritchie Torres, a Democrat from New York, said in a statement,
Sibley was murdered because of who he was.
As an openly gay Black man myself, I feel deeply in my heart that ours should be a city and a country where we are free to be who we are without fear of intimidation, harassment, violence, and murder.
An attack on the LGBTQI+ community is an attack on all of us as free people.”
The case is being investigated as a potential hate crime by the NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force.
A GoFundMe set up by Sibley’s father has raised more than $27,000 dollars to go toward covering the costs related to his unexpected death.
(Image, screen grab; via Advocate)
