Beyoncé linked up with a fan after he missed her Renaissance concert because his wheelchair wouldn't fit on the plane
- The Beyhive helped a fan meet Beyoncé during The Renaissance Tour on Thursday.
- The fan missed Beyoncé's September 14 concert after an airline didn't accommodate his wheelchair.
One Beyoncé fan's dream finally came true with some help from the Beyhive.
Jon Hetherington, 34, said he waited years to see Beyoncé in concert, but his hopes were dashed this month when an airline couldn't accommodate his wheelchair before her Seattle show. Hetherington shared his frustrations in a September 14 TikTok video.
"So after 25 years of waiting, I'm not seeing Beyoncé tonight, so ableism strikes again," he said in the video. Fortunately, the Beyhive was listening.
After fans boosted Hetherington's video on TikTok and X, he revealed on Instagram that he met Beyoncé and her mother, Tina Knowles, on Thursday during The Renaissance Tour's stop in Arlington, Texas. The New York Times reported that a representative for Beyoncé reached out to Hetherington and personally invited him to the show.
"To the Queen herself, @beyonce, I will treasure those words you said and the hugs you gave. I meant every word I said," he wrote the caption on Friday. "No, for anyone and everyone reading this, I will not ever share with you what was said to me, don't even try it. That moment is between the two of us."
Hetherington and representatives for Beyoncé did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider, made outside regular working hours.
He later shared a photo of him and Beyoncé to his account, writing, "Long live the Queen! Forever shall she reign."
In a separate post, he thanked the Beyhive for making his story go viral.
"Beyhive, you made this happen, you pushed and tagged like the internet has never seen. Tonight, for the first time ever, I had a seat on the floor for a concert. Welcome to the RENAISSANCE," he wrote.
Hetherington spoke with Insider's Hannah Getahun about his experience after missing Beyoncé's Seattle concert. Although this incident caused outrage online, he said it's more than an occasional problem.
"I'm sitting here as someone who has been disabled my entire life, saying it's not about the one airline," he told Insider. "This is a systemic issue."
He hopes that his video will inspire conversations about dismantling ableism.
"While people's eyes are on me, I would hope that maybe, for at least for the time being, I would like some sort of recognition and awareness of these issues. But, you know, who knows?" he said. "That's not often how our society works, especially when it comes to disability."