A teary-eyed Ellen DeGeneres addressed fans of late dancer and DJ Stephen “tWitch” Boss in an emotional Instagram video on Friday, calling on them to honor him by doing “the things that he loved to do.” (See the clip below.)
The comedian, who worked alongside Boss on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” from 2014 until its conclusion this year, acknowledged the difficult days since his death earlier this month.
“Everyone is in pain and trying to make sense of it, and we’ll never make sense of it,” DeGeneres said in the video, adding that “the holidays are hard.”
She continued: “To honor tWitch I think the best thing that we can do is to laugh, hug each other, play games and dance and sing. That’s the way we honor him, is we do the things that he loved to do, which is dancing, he loved music, he loved games, so we do that.”
The former talk show host recognized that the task “seems hard.”
“But that’s how we honor him. And hug each other. And tell each other we love each other and let people know we’re there for them. And check in on people,” she said.
DeGeneres previously shared her grief in an Instagram post that said she was “heartbroken” over Boss’ death.
“tWitch was pure love and light. He was my family, and I loved him with all my heart. I will miss him,” she wrote.
Tributes have have poured in since his death.
Boss’ mother, Connie Boss Alexander, shared a screenshot of a FaceTime call between the two and wrote, “Oh if only I could FT to heaven.”
His wife, Allison Holker Boss, also shared a photo of the two along with the caption, “My ONE and ONLY Oh how my heart aches. We miss you so much.”
The 40-year-old dancer died by suicide, according to a Los Angeles County coroner.
He had three kids — Zaia, Maddox and Weslie — with Holker Boss, whom he married in 2013.