25 May 2015

Fat-shamed ‘dancing man’ gets last laugh at LA party

A man who was bullied online after pictures were posted of him dancing has become an unlikely celebrity and flew to Los Angeles for a celebrity anti-bullying fundraiser in his honour.

Pictures of Sean O’Brien dancing happily and then looking downcast at being spotted were posted online in March with the message: “Spotted this specimen trying to dance the other week. He stopped when he saw us laughing.”

Dubbed “The Dancing Man” by social media supporters led by American writer Cassandra Fairbanks, he was tracked down through the #FindDancingMan hashtag on Twitter.

American supporters including writer Cassandra Fairbanks, flew him from Liverpool to California to party with celebrities in Los Angeles.

Mr O’Brien had 1,000 supporters at the event, including anti-bullying campaigner Monica Lewinsky and rapper Pharrell Williams via video.

Moby, who had previously offered his services for free, was the DJ for the party at the Avalon.

Dancing Man Sean O'Brien with Monica Lewinsky

On stage at the event he said “Someone tried to pick on me and it worked in his eyes – but backfired in the eyes of world!”

“I’ve met some of the most wonderful people you can imagine. It’s been truly life-changing.” Mr O’Brien told Good Morning Britain, “I’ve always had confidence anyway, I’ve always wanted to dance. It’s just people will pick on you sometimes. But what it has taught me is just totally ignore them rather than just blanking them.”

Whilst across the pond he danced on stage with performers on NBC’s Today show…

…and threw the symbolic first pitch at a baseball game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres wearing a Dodgers shirt with “Dancing Man” on the back.

Dancing Man Sean O'Brien baseball