- - Channing Tatum pays tribute to late “Magic Mike” costar Stephen 'tWitch' Boss: 'He made all of us fall in love with him'

Wesley StenzelDecember 6, 2025 at 3:09 AM

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Jesse Grant/Variety via Getty; Presley Ann/FilmMagic

Channing Tatum in 2025; Stephen 'tWitch' Boss in 2019

Channing Tatum is honoring the memory of Stephen "tWitch" Boss.

The Roofman star delivered a heartfelt speech about the late dancer at the inaugural Dance Hall of Fame ceremony in Los Angeles on Wednesday, days before the third anniversary of Boss' death by suicide at age 40.

"I promised myself I wasn't going to cry," Tatum, who appeared in Magic Mike XXL alongside Boss, said at the beginning of his remarks, according to PEOPLE. "I do this because tWitch made me laugh all the time. But to say that it is an honor to sit up here and talk about that man is an understatement to say the least. I sat for a while, and I was like, 'What am I going to tell them?' Because lots of people here might've known tWitch much longer or more intimate than I did. I got to work with him, and I got to work with him for a good amount of time."

Nathan Congleton/NBC via Getty Images

Stephen 'Twitch' Boss in 2022

Tatum went on to recall the first time he witnessed Boss dance, as a contestant on So You Think You Can Dance in 2008. "My brain just couldn't wrap itself around how this giant, big, beautiful man was moving the way he was," the 21 Jump Street star said. "I was a bigger guy, and I couldn't fathom moving like that."

The Lost City star also said he was flabbergasted by Boss' charisma. "Then he had to go and open his stupid mouth and be funny as well," Tatum remembered. "That pissed me off. I was like, 'Hold on a second.' And then he smiles at you and then you fall in love with him, and then that's just tWitch."

Later in his speech, Tatum remembered Boss' ability to charm anyone and everyone. "He made all of us fall in love with him," the actor said. "He came in the room just, I don't know, he just filled it up. He filled it up. He made you want to be better at anything that you wanted to be. He accepted you for who you were, who you wanted to be or wherever you were going. He wanted to help and he wanted to be there."

Tatum also said he had "a man crush" on the dancer. "Maybe it was because we're both from Alabama and I just felt some sort of kinship to him," he said before invoking the motto for University of Alabama's football team. "Roll Tide, by the way. I'm sure he yelled it back and is laughing at me right now. It was an honor to know him. It was an honor to call him a friend, and I will see him again."

Claudette Barius / Warner Bros. Pictures / courtesy Everett Collection

Stephen 'tWitch' Boss, Matt Bomer, Kevin Nash, Joe Manganiello, Channing Tatum, and Adam Rodriguez in 'Magic Mike XXL'

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Boss played Malik, a dancer associate of Tatum's Mike, in 2017's Magic Mike XXL, which was a sequel to 2015's Magic Mike. Tatum completed the trilogy in 2023 with Magic Mike's Last Dance.

Tatum previously mourned Boss shortly after his death. "I have no words. There aren't any. My head or heart can not understand this," he wrote on Instagram. "I'll see you again my friend. Until then."

If you or someone you know is considering suicide, contact the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by dialing 988, or text "STRENGTH" to the Crisis Text Line at 741741.

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