--- title: Dancing Man Body Shaming: Pharrell Ellie Goulding Want LA Dance Party description: Celebrities and others across the internet are planning to turn an instance of online bullying into a giant dance party canonical: https://time.com/3736511/dancing-man-body-shaming/ author: Justin Worland article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-03-08T14:27:28.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:47:55.796Z og:title: How the #DancingMan Became an Internet Phenomenon og:description: Pharrell, Ellie Goulding and others join campaign against body-shaming og:url: https://time.com/3736511/dancing-man-body-shaming/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How the #DancingMan Became an Internet Phenomenon twitter:description: Pharrell, Ellie Goulding and others join campaign against body-shaming twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # How the 'Dancing Man' Became an Internet Phenomenon > Sponsored content. 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The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically.  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Mar 8, 2015 2:27 PM UTC  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Mar 8, 2015 2:27 PM UTC Celebrities and others across the Internet are planning to turn an instance of online bullying into a giant dance party to combat body-shaming. It all started when a user of messageboard 4chan uploaded a body-shaming photo of an overweight man dancing at a night club. The post called Sean a “specimen” and noted that he looked distraught after other club goers laughed at him. > [](https://twitter.com/CassandraRules/status/573617663655571456) After the post received attention for its mean-spirited nature, Twitter user Cassandra Fairbanks took up the cause on the social media platform and sought to find the man in the post. The word spread quickly as people around the world tweeted in search of the dancing man and launched a #dancingman hashtag. The man, eventually identified as Sean in London, launched a Twitter account of his own to thank his many supporters. > [](https://twitter.com/Dancingmanfound/status/574139543231795200) Now, Cassandra and others have [raised](http://www.gofundme.com/neverstopdancing) more than $30,000 to fund “the dance party of a lifetime.” The party, which will benefit an anti-bullying campaign, has also received the support of celebrities including Pharrell and Ellie Goulding. > [](https://twitter.com/Pharrell/status/573908276569489408) > [](https://twitter.com/elliegoulding/status/574478246173110272) > [](https://twitter.com/AndrewWK/status/574337128689086464) The Los Angeles Coliseum even volunteered to host for free. > [](https://twitter.com/lacoliseum/status/574356873937190912) ### The 15 Most Bizarre Moments From the Consumer Electronics Show  A brand ambassador tests Samsung's Gear VR headset at the Samsung Galaxy booth on Jan. 6, 2015. Jae C. Hong—AP  Frank Lee, Brand Marketing for LG Electronics MobileComm USA, demonstrates the enhanced selfie feature on the new LG G Flex 2 mobile phone on Jan. 5, 2015. Michael Nelson—EPA  Attendees lay on Serta mattresses at the Serta stand on Jan. 6, 2015. Robyn Beck—AFP/Getty Images  Joe Clayton, CEO of Dish, arrives on stage banging a bass drum followed by company mascots during the Dish news conference on Jan. 5, 2015. Rick Wilking—Reuters  A transparent TRW model car is seen on Jan. 6, 2015. Yang Lei—Xinhua Press/Corbis  At the 'Unveiled-event' a young woman has a look at salad on Jan. 4, 2015. Britta Pedersen—dpa/Corbis  The drone 'Nano' from 'Zano' on Jan. 8, 2015. Britta Pedersen—dpa/Corbis  Attendees interact with wity screens that run on Intel's Realsense technology on Jan. 6, 2015. Michael Nelson—EPA  An attendee wears Altspace Virtual Reality head ware on Jan. 6, 2014. Michael Nelson—EPA  Sony Electronics President and COO Mike Fasulo displays the Sony 4K Action Cam at a press event on Jan. 5, 2015. David Becker—Getty Images  Consumer Electronics Association President and CEO Gary Shapiro exits a Mercedes-Benz F 015 autonomous driving automobile after it was unveiled at a Mercedes-Benz press event on Jan. 5, 2015. David Becker—Getty Images  A display shows Panasonic's virtual make-up mirror at a Panasonic news conference on Jan. 5 , 2015. Steve Marcus—Reuters  Selfie sticks of the company 'Noosy' displayed on Jan. 8, 2015. Britta Pedersen—EPA  World freediving champion Stig Severinsen holds his breathe underwater for a total of 5 minutes, 35 secs to demonstrate the functionality and accuracy of the Masimo SET pulse oximetry device on Jan. 8, 2015. Robyn Beck—AFP/Getty Images  Workers install an advertisement for a new S'UHD TV from Samsung Electronics on the side of the Las Vegas Convention Center on Jan. 4, 2015. 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