Jennifer Lopez’s tribute to Stephen ‘tWitch’ Boss has proven to be rather controversial after she shared a post in memory of her World of Dance co-star.
So much so, that an ex-Ellen show producer has come out in defence of friends of the late star sharing tribute posts.
He claimed the tributes “are just trying to convey to you who Twitch was.”
Scroll on to find out what JLo controversially said…
It comes after the dancer was found dead last week with a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Boss was best known for his integral role in The Ellen DeGeneres Show, where he played a key role as Ellen’s dancing sidekick, and occasional DJ.
And, well, who doesn’t know Ellen DeGeneres?
You’ve got to be questioning where you’ve been all these years if you haven’t come across the comedian before…
The talented comedian, television host, actress, writer, and producer has brightened the days of many people’s lives with her presence in the industry.
And if you’re having a difficult time recalling what you have seen or heard Ellen play in… Think Dory from Finding Nemo.
Her most notable role in the industry is as a television host for The Ellen DeGeneres Show.
The show first aired in 2003, and it’s certainly the most unique out there.
Ellen interacts with an array of celebrities in a way that grips the audience.
And we just love the pranks she pulls.
But, Ellen isn’t just known for her stand-up comedy, acting, and television host abilities…
She’s also loved by many for her charitable donations.
According to Talent Recap, Ellen has reportedly given away half a billion dollars in the entirety of the show’s history.
Now that’s impressive!
The star also has a wildlife fund, The Ellen Fund, gifted to her by Portia de Rossi.
The fund supports endangered wildlife across the world.
On its site, it states:
“This gift gave Ellen — and the millions who love her — the opportunity to be a champion for an endangered species, just like Ellen’s hero Dian Fossey.”
Ellen was also awarded the ‘Presidential Medal of Freedom’ by Barack Obama in 2016.
“In a career spanning 3 decades, Ellen DeGeneres has lifted our spirits and brought joy to our lives as a stand-up comic, actor, and television star. In every role, she reminds us to be kind to one another and to treat people as each of us wants to be treated,” a speech read as she stood next to Obama.
“At a pivotal moment, her courage and candor helped change the hearts and minds of millions of Americans, accelerating our nation’s constant drive toward equality and acceptance for all.
“Again and again, Ellen DeGeneres has shown us that a signal individual can make the world more fun, more open, a more loving place so long as we just keep swimming,” it finished.
It’s safe to say, Ellen truly is a household name.
And we’ve loved every single second of her incredible show, first airing in 2003, a whole nineteen years ago.
In the show, which now has nineteen seasons, Ellen’s first-ever guest was none other than Jennifer Anniston.
Since then, the television host invited many beloved celebrities onto her show including; Adele, David Beckham, Justin Bieber, Joe Biden, Nick Cannon, Cher, Kelly Clarkson, Courtney Cox, Penelope Cruz, Miley Cyrus, Johnny Depp, Kaley Cuoco, Chris Evans, Anna Farris, Chris Hemsworth, Jim Parsons, The Kardashian/Jenners, and many other incredible faces of the industry.
The show had people smiling, laughing, and even crying, especially when the host pulled some pretty hilarious pranks on the celebrities she invited to talk to her.
Like the time she pranked Dennis Quaid, telling him what to say to Triple-A, making him look quite foolish.
And let’s not forget the many times she’s made celebs jump out of their chairs or watched as their hearts race because of the white lies she’s told them.
Like the time she told Kristen Bell that she had a sloth for her to cuddle onset, reducing her to tears after watching her excitement… Just to tell her she was joking.
Or in more recent times, Ellen made the whole world laugh as she scared Kim Kardashian with a spider.
As they looked back on the fun the pair have had as Kim Kardashian has been invited to the show many times, Ellen locked in another memory by terrifying the television personality with one of her biggest fears, and no, it’s not losing her diamond earring in the ocean. In fact, she pretended to throw a spider at her, and Kim ran off the set.
But, the series did reach its last ever episode.
And as she busted out her last dance move for the show, Ellen broke down in tears.
“Welcome to our very last show,” she began. “I walked out here nineteen years ago and I said that this is the start of a relationship, and today is not the end of a relationship, it’s more of a little break, you can see other talk shows now and I may see another audience once in a while,” she joked.
“Twenty years ago when we were trying to sell this show, no one thought this show would work, not because it was a different kind of show but because I was different.
“Very few stations wanted to buy the show, and here we are twenty years later celebrating this amazing journey together. When we started the show, I couldn’t say gay on the show. I was not allowed to say gay,” she continued.
“I couldn’t say wife and that’s because it wasn’t legal for gay people to get married and now I say wife all the time,” she said, eliciting a round of applause.
“Twenty-five years ago they canceled my sitcom because they didn’t want a lesbian to be on prime-time once a week so I said ok then I’ll be on daytime every day, how about that?” she quipped.
“If this show has lifted you up when you’re in a period of pain,” she said. “Then I have done my job.
Ellen then got emotional as she told her audience that the show is the “greatest experience” she has “ever had.”
“Beyond my wildest imagination,” she said tearfully. “So twitch, one last time, dance with me.” And then, just like that, the star shared what was her final iconic dance on the show, but most certainly won’t be the last time we see her busting her moves.
And, the television host came full circle…
Inviting Jennifer Anniston, her first-ever guest, Billie Eilish, and Pink to say goodbye to what’s been the best twenty years of her life.
But this month, fans of Ellen were hit with more tragedy.
As Stephen ‘tWitch’ Boss, executive producer and DJ on the show, has passed away.
Boss wasn’t just a television personality or producer…
He accomplished an incredible amount during his career.
He was also a freestyle hip-hop dancer, choreographer, and actor.
His love of dancing began at a young age, and he went on to study dance performance at Southern Union State Community College.
Boss entered the entertainment industry shortly after, and made it to the semifinal of MTV’s The Wade Robson Project.
He was also a runner-up in the talent competition Star Search.
Boss also made it to the finals of So You Think You Can Dance, and appeared on Dancing with the Stars in 2013.
A year later he got his big break appearing as a guest DJ on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. He was later given a permanent position and was loved by millions of fans.
But last week, the Ellen executive producer was reported missing by his wife, as per TMZ.
She told PEOPLE: “Stephen lit up every room he stepped into. He valued family, friends and community above all else and leading with love and light was everything to him. He was the backbone of our family, the best husband and father, and an inspiration to his fans.
“Stephen, we love you, we miss you, and I will always save the last dance for you.”
Police confirmed his cause of death was an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Ellen posted a touching Instagram tribute.
“I’m heartbroken. tWitch was pure love and light. He was my family, and I loved him with all my heart. I will miss him. Please send your love and support to Allison and his beautiful children – Weslie, Maddox, and Zaia,” she wrote.
Plus, an eerie video surfaced of an executive producer of The Ellen DeGeneres Show, next to Boss telling everyone “Don’t keep in the pain,” during an episode last year.
“Keep each other close, don’t keep in the pain, talk to someone — anyone,” Andy Lassner says.
“It’s OK to be sad and to reach out to each other because nobody knows this exact experience other than the people who work here,” Lassner continued during the finale.
Adding that the group “went through it together” and “should be proud” of everything they’ve worked on and achieved during their 19-year run.
The video was posted to Instagram by Johanna Fuentes, who described Boss as “an immense talent who brought joy to every room he walked into,” in the caption.
Boss’ heartbreaking final Instagram post has also surfaced.
It shows Boss dancing with his wife, with the caption: “HOLIDAY SUNDAY FUNDAY DANCE !!! With my lover.”
Some comments Boss made on the Aubrey Marcus Podcast have caught the internet’s attention.
Boss spoke about being “a constant work in progress.”
“You will make decisions that might seem right at the time, but then they’re not,” he explained. “For me, it just helps to know that it keeps going — it does, no matter what.”
But even more eerie were Boss’s comments about “bouncing back” stating: “It doesn’t have to be, like, something that you tell your friends that at the end of it, your friends are going to go, ‘Wow.'”
Boss joked, “‘I had the gun in my hand’… and meanwhile, it’s like some trivial s*** … No matter what, life is going to move forward.”
Boss’ Magic Mike co-star, Channing Tatum, has shared a heart-wrenching tribute.
“I have no words. There aren’t any. My head or heart can not understand this,” he wrote on Instagram.
“There is just so much… I don’t know where to begin. I love you. I’ll see you again my friend. Until then.”
And then, actor Columbus Short was heavily criticized for his ‘theory’ on what he thought led Boss to commit suicide.
In a since-deleted Instagram post, he claimed that Boss may have “invested in something that took his whole life savings.”
He continued: “People made investments, people do a lot of things — this is just a theory.
“What if you invested something that took your whole life savings, possibly? … It gets rough.”
Short added: “You guys don’t know what people are going through.
“People are awful … tWitch was amazing, is amazing still — his legacy shall live on.”
However, sources close to Boss said that “there is absolutely no truth” to Short’s unsubstantiated allegation.
Representatives for Boss haven’t made any comments yet following Short’s theory.
However, Short’s theory isn’t the only thing that has proven controversial in the wake of Boss’ death.
One of the star’s fellow executive producers, Andy Lassner, has come out in defence of the late dancer’s friends sharing their tributes.
“So many people on social media are posting pictures of themselves with Twitch. Talking about their close friendships with him. Talking about the texts they exchanged with him just last week. Talking about the conversation they once had with him,” he started.
“The thing is – it’s all true. It’s all real.”
“Those who knew him are not trying to make this tragedy about themselves. They are just trying to convey to you who Twitch was.
“They are just trying to convey to you who Twitch was. He made everything about you.
“He made you feel like the most important person in the world. And he did this for everybody. Not just the people he needed or that were ‘important’. He did it for everybody.”
He continued: “There was a heavy burden that none of us realized he was carrying.
“He must have been so tired. But we didn’t know because he never wanted it to be about him. Ever. So now we can either spend all of our time wondering why and how and never being satisfied with the answers we imagine.
“Or we can focus on being grateful for the gift he gave us by allowing us to take light from his flame. The thing is that light still burns in us. All of us.
Lassner concluded the post: “Let’s try and share that light with the people we love. It’s really all we can do. And that’s enough. It’s more than enough.”
Lassner’s Instagram post has been liked by multiple celebs, including Jennifer Aniston and Kris Jenner.
However, it hasn’t stopped fans from finding one particular celeb’s post rather problematic…
Jennifer Lopez shared an Instagram post in memory of Boss.
She wrote: “Twitch was such a light and a beautiful soul…💔 Shocked and deeply saddened. My heart breaks for @sir_twitch_alot, his wife and children 🙏 Sending you love and strength 🤍.”
However, some fans have hit out at her public post.
One user commented: “Did you call and check on him?”
Another said: “Couldn’t even tag his wife. SMH.”
A third wrote: “Hopefully you told him this before he passed.”
Rest in peace, Stephen Boss.
If you or anyone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts, please visit www.988lifeline.org for free confidential help from skilled counselors.