A celebrity whose smile and energy were infectious every time he appeared on the small screen, Stephen "tWitch" Boss entertained TV audiences for years, arguably most notably as the dance-happy DJ for The Ellen DeGeneres Show for a sizeable part of its run. Tragically, it has been reported that the So You Think You Can Dance competitor-turned-judge has died at the age of 40.
News of tWitch's death was first shared by his wife, Allison Holker Boss, with whom he shares three children: Weslie, 14; Maddox, 6; and Zaia, 3. Boss reportedly entered an LAPD station on Tuesday in a panic, according to TMZ, while saying her husband left home without a vehicle, which he was not known to ever do. After a short while, a call came in for a shooting at an L.A. hotel, and it's there that Boss was found dead. The wound was described as being apparently self-inflicted, though suicide is not yet an official cause of death.
Allison Holker Boss shared the following statement with 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.
News of tWitch's death comes as a major shock to fans, as the entertainer has been as busy as ever on the small screen of late. Despite the highly publicized end of The Ellen DeGeneres Show, which went through some turmoil in its final years due to allegations made about the host's behavior, the DJ (who was eventually granted co-executive producer status in 2020) always had positive responses when addressing such complaints, and always spoke highly of DeGeneres herself. And he surrounded that show's conclusion with plenty of other gigs and appearances.
In the past two years alone, Boss served in a hosting and/or judging capacity for So You Think You Can Dance's post-hiatus return, the final season of Ellen's Game of Games, the game show Clash of the Cover Bands, the short-lived The Real Dirty Dancing, and was also a guest judge in Sarah Hyland's streaming competition series Play-Doh Squished. (He also shared the screen with Hyland as a Modern Family guest star in 2018.) As well, he and Allison Holker played "Dad" and "Mom," respectively in Disney+'s holiday musical The Hip Hop Nutcracker, which premiered just three weeks before his death.
Born in Montgomery, Alabama, Stephen Boss first rose to fame during Season 3 of So You Think You Can Dance, and returned the next season to even more success, and later achieved All-Star status within the brand ahead of eventually landing behind the judge's table. He followed that up with acting and dancing roles in such projects as Step Up 3D, Step Up Revolution, and Step Up All In, as well as Ghostbusters and Magic Mike XXL. Over the years, he also showed off his skills on Dancing with the Stars, Disney's Fairy Tale Weddings, Dance Like a Boss and more.
Below is the latest social media post tWitch and Allison Holker Boss shared, with a growing number of celebrity friends and fans sharing their condolences in the comments. (They'd just celebrated their nine-year wedding anniversary on Saturday, Dec. 10.)
We at CinemaBlend send our thoughts and condolences to the family and friends of Stephen "tWitch" Boss during their time of mourning.
