Widow ripped for dance video detailing husband’s murder
They accused her of dancing on his grave.
A Florida widow is responding to the online backlash after she was shown dancing in a TikTok video describing her husband’s death. The controversial clip has since been deleted due to backlash – but reposted on Twitter. where it has garnered 5 million views and countless horrified reactions from viewers.
The widow, named Jessica Ayers, 39, also addressed the controversy in a recent TikTok video she posted Wednesday in response to a critical commenter who asked why she was dancing over something “so traumatic.”
“Because eight years ago my whole life went up in flames,” retorted the Panamanian, known on TikTok as the Singing Widow. “It [the death] That of course happened to my husband but he is no longer here so he lost his life and in a way I lost mine.”
“And yes, I fucking dance, why not? I made you look right?” added the self-proclaimed “remarried widowed warrior,” who sells commemorative t-shirts on her Etsy page titled The Widow and Bereavement Shop.
The now-viral video star was referring to the death of her husband, Steven Justin Ayers, 33, who was killed by a stray bullet in 2014 after the couple transported their 3-day-old baby from the hospital, the Panama City News Herald reported.
The shooter, Charles Edward Shisler, 62, claimed the gun was accidentally fired when he picked it up on the trigger. He was subsequently arrested and charged with manslaughter and possession of a firearm by a felon and possession of methamphetamine. Shisler pleaded guilty in 2015.
Since then, Ayers has chronicled her heartbreaking experiences as a widow and single mom on both her TikTok and personal blog, The Singing Widow.
However, the Floridian came under fire for the recent clip that showed the widow turning emphatically to Meghan Trainor’s upbeat track “Made You Look,” while flaunting a smile. Meanwhile, captions about her husband’s horrific death emerged on screen.
The now-viral video star was referring to the death of her husband, Steven Justin Ayers, 33, who was killed by a stray bullet in 2014 after the couple transported their 3-day-old baby from the hospital.
The shooter, Charles Edward Shisler, 62, claimed the gun was accidentally fired when he picked it up on the trigger. He was subsequently arrested and charged with manslaughter and possession of a firearm by a felon and possession of methamphetamine. Shisler pleaded guilty in 2015.
Since then, Ayers has chronicled her heartbreaking experiences as a widow and single mom on both her TikTok and personal blogs, The Singing Widow.
The captions describe how Ayers told him the story to his face on the day the killer was convicted. “I also told him to remember my face if he ever started feeling sorry for himself,” wrote Ayers, who has nearly 57,000 Instagram followers. “It remains one of the proudest moments of my life.”
“Eight years ago a man shot my husband,” reads the caption. “I was 3 days postpartum,” she continued. “[Eleven] Months later, the man who shot him was convicted of manslaughter.”
The captions describe how Ayers told him the story to his face on the day the killer was convicted. “I also told him to remember my face if he ever starts feeling sorry for himself,” wrote Ayers, who has nearly 57,000 Instagram followers. “It remains one of the proudest moments of my life.”
The upbeat footage ends with the mother-of-two greeting the camera, before a message emerges urging her followers to read the full story on Instagram.
Unfortunately, the clip didn’t sit well with many commenters, who felt the message didn’t go with the moves: “I’ve never understood why people dance while talking about such dark and sensitive topics on Tiktok.” raged a horrified viewer on Twitter. “If someone danced to the story of my death, I would haunt them.”
“And she danced to a Meghan Trainor song, the absolute disrespect.” exclaimed another moron.
“This is top TikTok.” complained a disillusioned viewer of the original dance video. Some even compared the ad for the nurses who filmed themselves dancing during the COVID pandemic.
“People are reacting because it’s just as discordant as hospital staff dancing during reported COVID spikes,” one said Viral tweet pointed this out. “Behaviour [seemed] mismatched with the message and the mismatch reads as disingenuous/insincere,” the social media watchdog continued.
Meanwhile, in Ayers’ follow-up video, a commenter tried to explain the criticism: “It’s not that you’re dancing… it’s that you’re dancing WHILE you’re telling that particular story. Nobody would criticize you just because you dance.”
Ayers promptly replied, “So let’s crucify for it. What? Dance was trending, so I made a TikTok to tell my story. Sooo many others are doing it and people are praising them.”
However, others flocked to Ayers’ defense. “She dances because she is telling the story of her revenge for the murder – her brave speech earned the killer a life sentence.” explained a defense attorney. “I’m really not sure what the problem is here.”
Ayers has since remarried fellow musician Don Hogg, with whom she has performed at local venues – and who, unbeknownst to her, appeared at her husband’s funeral in 2018, nine.com.au reported.
During the ceremony, she reportedly wore the rings from her first wedding on her other hand.
https://nypost.com/2022/11/23/widow-ripped-for-dance-video-describing-husbands-murder/ Widow ripped for dance video detailing husband’s murder
