Beyoncé pays tribute to dancer fatally stabbed while dancing to her music

Beyoncé has paid tribute to O'Shae Sibley, a professional dancer who was fatally stabbed in Brooklyn, New York while dancing to her music.

Mr Sibley, 28, was voguing while he and friends filled up at a petrol station when men approached and told them to stop, friends reported.

The men began using slurs and Mr Sibley, a gay man, confronted them, according to video of the altercation.

"Rest in Power O'Shae Sibley", Beyoncé's website reads.

No arrests have yet been made, but police said on Tuesday that they were seeking a teenage boy in connection with the killing. The New York Police department has also said it is investigating Mr Sibley's death as a possible hate crime.

Mr Sibley's friends told US media that while some of their group filled up their car at a Mobil petrol station in Brooklyn on Saturday, the professional dancer and choreographer played Beyoncé's latest album, Renaissance, and danced to the music. Renaissance, is considered a celebration of black and queer dance culture, featuring artists like Big Freedia, Syd and Honey Dijon.

After a group of men approached Mr Sibley and his friends, surveillance video appears to show the two groups in a heated argument.

The confrontation escalated, and one man stabbed Mr Sibley, police said.

Otis Pena, one of Mr Sibley's friends, pressed on his wound to stop the bleeding before Mr Sibley was taken to Maimonides Medical Center, the New York Times reported, where he was pronounced dead.

"They murdered him because he's gay, because he stood up for his friends," Mr Pena said in a Facebook video. "They killed my brother right in front of me," he wrote in another post.

Mr Sibley's death has rocked the LGBTQ+ community in New York, where friends said he had moved to continue his dance career, and beyond.

Philadelphia dance organisation Philadanco, which said Mr Sibley had been involved with them since he was a teenager, released a statement calling his death "absolutely heartbreaking".

"We believe no one deserves to be targeted for simply being themselves and living in their truth," the statement said.

Mr Sibley was also recognised by New York's leaders, including Mayor Eric Adams and Governor Kathy Hochul, who wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, that "discrimination, hate, and violence" have no place in our state.