A teary-eyed Ellen DeGeneres addressed fans of the late showbiz dancer and DJ Stephen “tWitch” Boss and urged them to honor him by doing “the things he loved to do” in an emotional Instagram video Friday. (You can watch the clip below).
The comedian, who worked alongside Boss from 2014 until “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” ended this year, acknowledged the difficult days and pain since her death earlier this month.
“Everybody’s hurting and trying to make sense of it, and we’ll never make sense of it,” DeGeneres said in the message.
She continued: “The holidays are hard anyway I guess, but to honor tWitch I think the best thing we can do is laugh and hug and play and dance and sing. The way we honor him is we do the things that he loved to do, which is dancing, he loved music, he loved games, so we do that.”
The former talk show host continued her message and admitted that the task “seems difficult” and impossible.
“But this is how we honor him. And hug. And tell each other we love each other and tell people we’re with them. And check people,” he said.
Earlier, DeGeneres paid tribute to Boss and said she was heartbroken by his death.
“The witch was pure love and light. He was my family and I loved him with all my heart. I will miss him,” he wrote.
After his death, more messages surfaced about Boss, a former “So You Think You Can Dance” runner-up.
The Boss’ mom, Connie Boss Alexander, wrote, “Oh, if I could FT in heaven” in a screenshot of a FaceTime call between the two that she shared on Instagram earlier this week.
His wife, Allison Holker Boss, also shared a photo of the two together this week with the caption: “My ONE and ONLY Oh how my heart aches. We miss you so much.”
The 40-year-old dancer committed suicide, according to a Los Angeles medical examiner.
She had three children — Zaia, Maddox and Weslie — with Holker Boss, whom she married in 2013.
If you or someone you know needs help, call 988 or 1-800-273-8255 for National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. You can also get SMS support by visiting suicidepreventionlifeline.org/chat. Outside the US please visit the International Association for Suicide Prevention for a database of resources.
