O’Shae Sibley tributes pour in as search for teen suspect continues in Brooklyn gas station stabbing
Beyonce paid tribute to the dancer writing ‘Rest in power O’Shea Sibley’ on her website
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A teenager is being sought after 28-year-old professional dancer O’Shae Sibley was stabbed to death while vogueing to Beyonce at a gas station in Brooklyn.
Mr Sibley, who was working as a dancer in New York and Philadelphia, was voguing at the gas station on Saturday night when he was reportedly approached by a group of men who told him to stop.
Witnesses have revealed that the group said they didn’t like that Mr Sibley and his friends were dancing and they made homophobic comments.
Police said later that a 17-year-old boy in a black shirt and red shorts brought out a knife and stabbed Mr Sibley in the chest. He died from his injuries.
Mr Sibley’s friend Otis Pena spoke about his last moments in a video shared on Facebook.
“They killed him right in front of me,” he said. “I see him wobbling and I had to run to him and hold his wound as blood is dripping on my hands, as blood is on my clothes.”
A hate crimes investigation has now been launched.
Meanwhile, Beyonce paid tribute to the dancer by writing “Rest in power O’Shea Sibley” on her website.
Who was O’Shae Sibley?
Sibley grew up in North Philadelphia and was one of nine siblings.
The youngster had been teased from a young age for his love of dancing, and found refuge at the Philadelphia Dance Company, known as Philadanco, as a 13-year-old, founder Joan Myers Brown told the Philadelphia Inquirer.
After starting out dancing hip hop and other modern dances, he learned ballet and classical forms at the company’s apprentice programme D/2, she said.
Ms Brown told the Inquirer that opportunities were limited for young, Black dancers in Philadelphia, and Sibley moved to New York about three years ago.
“I just want to be famous,” Ms Brown recalls the young dancer telling her.
She introduced him to another former Philadanco student Iquail Shaheed, a dance professor who teaches at the Alvin Ailey School in New York.
‘O’Shae has always been a peacemaker. All he wanted to do was dance'
Sibley joined the school’s dance company Ailey Extension, where he was “cherished” by his fellow students, the group wrote in a Facebook tribute.
Sibley had been auditioning for Broadway shows, and had also worked as a choreographer and model, according to Ms Brown.
He was also a popular member of the ballroom dancing community, friends said.
They kept in touch via weekly calls and texts, and Sibley would tell her about his latest auditions, she told the Inquirer.
Tondra Sibley, the victim’s aunt, told the New York Times his death was a “senseless crime”.
“O’Shae has always been a peacemaker. All he wanted to do was dance,” she said.
‘His young life was snuffed out by bigotry and hatred’
In an email shared with the Inquirer, former Philadanco student Iquail Shaheed Shaheed wrote that Sibley was killed “just because he was Black, gay and dancing”.
Sibley had “wanted to make a life for himself in and through dance. Yet, his young life was snuffed out by bigotry and hatred,” Mr Shaheed wrote.
He was living in an apartment in Strauss St, Brownsville, in Brooklyn, at the time of his death.
Beckenbaur Hamilton, a neighbour and friend, told NBC 4 New York that he had texted Sibley on the morning he was killed out of concern for his safety.
He described their neighborhood as “very homophobic.”
“We have to live stifled,” he said. “We live here in a community where we have to pretend to be somebody else.”
Sibley’s father Jake Kelly wrote on a GoFundme page that his son’s life had been cut “in his prime” because of his sexuality.
“O’Shae not only was the glue to this family, he was a great dancer and performer for the majority of his life. His spirit lit up every room he stepped in,” Mr Kelly wrote.
Philadanco has also set up a fundraising page to raise funds for Sibley’s family.
‘Gay joy is not a crime’
There was anger, grief and despair among Sibley’s friends and fellow students in tributes posted to social media.
Beyoncé paid tribute to the dancer in a statement on her website, writing simply: “Rest in power O’Shae Sibley.”
In a statement to Advocate, LGBT+ advocacy non-profit GLAAD said the shocking murder followed a “disturbing rise in violence and harassment against LGBTQ people across the US”.
“This cannot continue. No one should have to fear for their safety just for being themselves. 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 LGBT+ people and all queer people of colour.”
‘He had incredible energy in the studio'
Sibley’s dance studio, the Ailey Extension, said in a statement that he was a “cherished and devoted student”.
“He had incredible energy in the studio and was loved by instructors and fellow classmates.”
New York state senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal said he was “heartbroken and enraged” to learn about Sibley’s death in a post on social media.
“Despite homophobes’ best efforts, gay joy is not a crime. Hate-fueled attacks are,” the senator tweeted.
A memorial for Sibley is being held at the LGBT Community Center on West 13th St on Saturday 5 August.
What is voguing?
Voguing is a modern style of house dancing that evolved from the Harlem ballroom dance scene, and was predominantly performed by LGBT+ Black and hispanic men as an imitation of fashion models.
Voguing was named after the fashion bible Vogue, and is characterised by exaggerated poses, angular movements and fluid transitions.
It first gained mainstream attention after the release of Madonna’s Vogue 1990 music video and the documentary Paris Is Burning.
The film focused on drag queens living in New York City and their “house” culture, and won a Grand Jury Prize at the 1991 Sundance Film Festival.
Willi Ninja, the “Godfather of voguing”, was honoured by Google with a “doodle” logo on its homepage on 9 June, which featured several performers recreating his iconic dancing style.
Gay man is fatally stabbed while dancing to Beyoncé at Brooklyn gas station
A hate crimes investigation is underway after a gay man was stabbed to death while dancing at a gas station in New York City.
O’Shae Sibley, a 28-year-old professional dancer, was at a station in the Brooklyn neighbourhood of Coney Island with friends late Saturday night when the deadly attack unfolded, the NYPD said.
The group had stopped to fill up their tank when another group of men approached them and told them to stop vogueing — a type of stylised modern dancing — to Beyoncé’s Renaissance .
Surveillance video obtained by The New York Post shows that an altercation broke out between the two groups around 11pm. Following Sibley’s stabbing, his friends rendered first aid and he was then taken to Maimonides Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
The NYPD’s hate crimes task force is leading the investigation into Sibley’s killing. Law enforcement is now seeking to arrest a 17-year-old man who had allegedly told Sibley and his friends that he was offended because the men were dancing shirtless, according to the Post.
Read more:
Gay man is fatally stabbed while dancing to Beyoncé at Brooklyn gas station
The NYPD’s hate crime task is investigating 28-year-old O’Shea Sibley’s fatal stabbing on Saturday night
Beyoncé honours dancer who was fatally stabbed while dancing to her music: ‘Rest in power’
Beyoncé has posted a tribute honouring 28-year-old professional dancer O’Shae Sibley after he was fatally stabbed while vogueing to her songs.
Vogueing is a form of dance that originated in New York’s Black queer and trans ballroom community, and was popularised by pop stars like Madonna, and reality competition juggernaut RuPaul’s Drag Race. A hate crimes investigation is now underway into the stabbing of Sibley, who was gay.
The pop icon took to her website on 1 August to write: “REST IN POWER O’SHEA SIBLEY.”
Sibley had been dancing to the singer’s latest studio album Renaissance, which is widely regarded as a love letter to the queer community and described by Entertainment Weekly as a “radical re-envisioning of the American Dream for the Black, queer, and trans folk who inspired it”.
The attack took place late Saturday night, when Sibley and a group of friends stopped at a Mobil gas station in the Brooklyn neighbourhood of Coney Island to fill up their tank. As they waited, Sibley began to dance to Beyoncé’s Renaissance.
Read more:
Beyoncé honours dancer who was fatally stabbed while dancing to her music
Professional dancer O’Shae Sibley was fatally stabbed while dancing to singer’s album Renaissance
‘They killed him right in front of me'
A teenager is being sought after 28-year-old professional dancer O’Shea Sibley was stabbed to death while vogueing to Beyonce at a gas station in Brooklyn.
Mr Sibley, who was working as a dancer in New York and Philadelphia, was voguing at the gas station on Saturday night when he was reportedly approached by a group of men who told him to stop.
Witnesses have revealed that the group said they didn’t like that Mr Sibley and his friends were dancing and they made homophobic comments.
Police said later that a 17-year-old boy in a black shirt and red shorts brought out a knife and stabbed Sibley in the chest. He died from his injuries.
Mr Sibley’s friend Otis Pena spoke about his last moments in a video shared on Facebook.
“They killed him right in front of me,” he said. “I see him wobbling and I had to run to him and hold his wound as blood is dripping on my hands, as blood is on my clothes.”
A hate crimes investigation has now been launched.
Tony Morrison, the senior director of communications at GLAAD, said: “This young man’s death is horrific and really just shows the state of being an LGBTQ person in America today.”
Mr Morrison said violence against LGBT+ individuals is on the rise.
“We’ve seen harassment, vandalism, and it’s now manifesting in physical harm - in this case death,” he said, according to NBC.
‘I’m covered in his blood. I was holding his stab wounds'
Mr Sibley’s friend Otis Pena said he was celebrating his birthday with his friends and the group intended to drive to Mr Pena’s home, which is located two blocks from the crime scene, shortly before the professional dancer was stabbed in the chest.
“I’m covered in his blood. I was holding his stab wounds,” Mr Pena said through tears in a Facebook live after Sibley’s stabbing. “I was trying to put pressure on the wound and there was blood squirting everywhere ... They killed him right in my arms.”
Mr Sibley’s neighbour Beckenbaur Hamilton said Mr Sibley was known for his joyful character and elaborate dance performances.
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