'Dancing Man' Puts Cyber Bullies to Shame at LA Dance Party

With a little help from singers Pharrell and Moby and thousands of big-hearted friends, a pair of Los Angeles women put the Internet’s fat-shamers to shame.

It all started with a single act of cruelty toward Sean O’Brien who was taped dancing at a concert in Great Britain. Photos posted online show him happily dancing until he spots a group of people recording him and laughing at his expense.

The culprits then posted the images dubbed “The Dancing Man” on social media, writing, “Spotted this specimen trying to dance the other week. He stopped when he saw us laughing.”

The post went viral with commenters piling on the cruelty. But then the tide of comments turned in his defense, and two women from Los Angeles - Hope Leigh and Cassandra Fairbanks - began a fundraising campaign to bring him to Hollywood for a monster dance party Saturday night. They raised more than $39,000, enough to bring to LA and donate toward an anti-bullying campaign.

“This is a once in a lifetime opportunity that I am going to grasp with both hands,” O’Brien told Eyewitness News while dancing late into the night with hundreds of supporters. “The message is there are so many more nice people out there than there are bad people.”

Even Leigh, the dance party’s organizer, was surprised by the outpouring of support.

“I have been really overwhelmed by the amount of good in the world I have seen from this,” said Leigh.

“It really shows the power of people,” added Fairbanks. “If everybody just comes together to do something nice, look what you can accomplish.”

Empowered by the show of support O’Brien threw out the first pitch at Sunday’s Dodgers game and danced for the crowd on the Jumbotron.

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