Ellen DeGeneres is paying tribute to her late friend and collaborator Stephen "tWitch" Boss.
The former talk show host posted a video to Twitter to honor Boss, who died of suicide last week. DeGeneres tearfully contemplated how fans might honor him during the holidays. Boss was DJ on Ellen from 2014 to 2022, when the series came to an end. He also served as executive producer.
— Ellen DeGeneres (@TheEllenShow) December 23, 2022
"I just wanted to say that the past 11 days have been very tough for everyone," said DeGeneres. "Everyone is in pain and trying to make sense of it. We’ll never make sense of it. The holidays are hard I think anyway, but to honor Twitch the best thing we can do is to laugh and to hug each other and to play games and dance and sing. That’s the way we honor him. We do the things that he loved to do."
"It’s hard. It seems impossible, but that’s how we honor him," she continued, fighting back tears. "We hug each other and tell each other we love each other and let people know we’re there for them. Check in on people. Happy holidays everybody. It’s not a happy holiday, but he was pure light as everyone in the comments said. If you knew him, you knew that. If you didn’t know him, you saw it. Let’s honor him and think about him and send love to one another."
Boss' career took off on competition series like The Wade Robson Project and Star Search before he made his mark on So You Think You Can Dance in 2008. He finished as runner-up in Season 4, and later returned as an All-Star. He was 40 years old at the time of his passing.
Jade Budowski is a freelance writer with a knack for ruining punchlines and harboring dad-aged celebrity crushes. She was previously a reporter/producer at Decider and is a member of the Television Critics Association. Follow her on Twitter: @jadebudowski.
TOPICS: Stephen “tWitch” Boss, Ellen DeGeneres