Beyoncé at a Renaissance tour stop in Stockholm, Sweden, on May 10. Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Parkwood
- The Beyhive helped a fan meet Beyoncé during the Renaissance Tour on Thursday.
- The fan missed Beyoncé’s concert on September 14th because an airline wouldn’t accommodate his wheelchair.
- The New York Times reported that Beyoncé’s camp invited the fan after his TikTok video went viral.
With the help of Beyhive, a Beyoncé fan’s dream finally came true.
Jon Hetherington, 34, said he had waited years to see Beyoncé in concert, but his hopes were dashed this month when an airline couldn’t accommodate his wheelchair ahead of her show in Seattle. Hetherington shared his frustrations in a Sept. 14 TikTok video.
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“After 25 years of waiting, I won’t see Beyoncé tonight, so disabilityism strikes again,” he said in the video. Luckily, the Beyhive was listening.
After fans posted Hetherington’s video on TikTok and The New York Times reported that a representative for Beyoncé reached out to Hetherington and personally invited him to the show.
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“To the queen herself, @beyonce, I will cherish the words you said and the hugs you gave. I meant every word I said,” he wrote in the caption on Friday. “No, to anyone and everyone reading this: I will never share with you what I was told, don’t even try. This moment is between the two of us.”
Hetherington and representatives for Beyoncé did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment, which was made outside of regular work hours.
He later shared a photo of him and Beyoncé to his account and wrote, “Long live the queen! She will reign forever.”
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In a separate post, he thanked the Beyhive for making his story go viral.
“Beyhive, you made this happen, you pushed and tagged like the internet has never seen. Tonight was the first time I had ever had a seat on the floor at a concert. Welcome to the RENAISSANCE,” he wrote.
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Hetherington spoke with Insider’s Hannah Getahun about his experience after missing Beyoncé’s Seattle concert. Although this incident caused outrage online, he said it was not just an occasional problem.
“I’m sitting here as someone who’s been disabled my whole life and saying it’s not about one airline,” he told Insider. “This is a systemic problem.”
He hopes his video will spark conversations about reducing anti-disability sentiment.
“While people’s eyes are on me, I would hope that maybe, at least for now, I would have some sort of recognition and awareness of these issues. But you know, who knows?” he said. “Our society doesn’t often work that way, especially when it comes to disabilities.”
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