BeyHive Blessings: Beyoncé & Tina Knowles Meet Fan Forced To Miss Renaissance Concert Due To His Wheelchair
In Dallas, Beyoncé and Tina Knowles rolled out the chrome carpet for Jon Hetherington, the viral fan who missed Renaissance because no flights accommodated his wheelchair.
Source: Kevin Mazur / Getty
On Sept. 15, Hetherington took to social media with a heartbreaking story of missing his lifelong dream to see Beyoncé perform live. Despite securing a coveted ticket to her highly anticipated tour in Seattle and paying a small fortune to attend, he never even made it to the city in time.
When it was time to board his flight, “ableism [struck] again.” Every flight and airline turned away Hetherington, who has cerebral palsy, due to the size of his wheelchair.
“Well, I guess I’m not going to Seattle and I’m not seeing Beyoncé. Got to the airport to take my flight, and my chair is apparently four inches too tall to be loaded onto the plane. So they checked every possible flight, every airline,” he explained.
“So after 25 years of waiting, I’m not seeing Beyoncé tonight. So ableism strikes again.”
According to Revolt, the height requirement for wheelchairs was “unspecified,” leaving countless others to possibly face the same costly ableism. Hetherington’s story went viral, racking up nearly 20 million views on X (formerly Twitter) alone.
The next day, he thanked everyone for the overwhelming support on Instagram Stories. The BeyHive showed up and showed out for him, offering their tickets to the few remaining shows.
@liberatedbygaga #greenscreen I spoke to Insider about my experience #beyonce #ableism #disability #disabled #renaissanceworldtour #rwt2023 #fyp #foryoupage
The internet hoped Beyoncé’s team would right the airlines’ wrongs after her publicist, Yvette Noel-Schure, followed him on Instagram. The Queen ensured her devastated fan got a one-of-a-kind experience.
Check out Beyoncé and Tina Knowles blessing Jon Hetherington with a backstage meet and greet after the flip!
