Beyoncé fan Jon Hetherington posted a video final week wherein he lamented that he wouldn’t be capable of obtain a lifelong dream of seeing Queen Bey in live performance in Seattle at Lumen Discipline as a result of he mentioned the airline he was flying on was unable to accommodate his wheelchair. In a TikTok video, Oregon native Hetherington mentioned he acquired the airport and was instructed by the unnamed airline that his chair was 4 inches too tall to be loaded onto the airplane.
“They checked each doable flight, each airline, and nothing is accessible. So after 25 years of ready, I’m not seeing Beyonce tonight. So ableism strikes once more,” he lamented within the video that went viral and racked up greater than 360,000 likes and 1,500 feedback.
He was shortly flooded by feedback from the Bey Hive, with some providing to present him their tickets for upcoming exhibits, and plenty of others tagging Beyoncé, her Parkwood Leisure administration firm and Columbia Data. “I’ve waited so f–king lengthy for this,” Hetherington mentioned in a follow-up video wherein he mentioned was demoralized, pissed off and unhappy about lacking the present; two weeks earlier he mentioned he was left stranded in Seattle for hours after a Janelle Monáe present as a result of he couldn’t discover an accessible taxi in Seattle.
The groundswell of help and affords of assist for the Oregon native became a dream come true on Thursday night time (Sept. 21) when Hetherington, 34 — who has cerebral palsy and makes use of an electrical wheelchair — was capable of attend Bey’s Renaissance tour date at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX after a member of the singer’s staff reached out to him, in line with the New York Occasions; at press time a spokesperson for Beyoncé couldn’t be reached for affirmation of the report.
The Occasions reported that Bey’s staff organized for a brand new flight and after the present Hetherington reported that not solely did his dream come true, however he met Beyoncé’s mother — Tina Knowles-Lawson — in addition to the singer herself. “Beyhive, you made this occur, you pushed and tagged just like the web has by no means seen. Tonight, for the primary time ever, I had a seat on the ground for a live performance. Welcome to the RENAISSANCE,” he wrote alongside a shot of him awaiting the start of the live performance.
In a second picture, subsequent to a smiling Knowles-Lawson, Hetherington was elated about his magical night time and instructed his followers that he deliberate to maintain the particular phrases Beyoncé shared to himself. “There’s a lot that I’ll say within the coming days about what tonight means to me. There are some issues I’ll hold for myself. Actually an honor to satisfy you, @mstinaknowles! Thanks for all that you simply’ve finished and given the world. We’re so grateful,” he mentioned.
“To the Queen herself, @beyonce, I’ll treasure these phrases you mentioned and the hugs you gave,” he added. “I meant each phrase I mentioned. No, for anybody and everybody studying this, I cannot ever share with you what was mentioned to me, don’t even attempt it. That second is between the 2 of us.”
See Hetherington’s posts under.
