Chaos at Joshua Allen’s Funeral as Brawl Erupts Over Open Casket

A fight erupted over the casket at the funeral of So You Think You Can Dance winner Joshua Allen as police were forced to intervene after his tragic death at 36.

Video has been spreading throughout social media of the ugly incident as it showed the result of tension amongst his family during the celebration of life for the season 4 winner of the reality competition show in Fort Worth, Texas over the weekend. 

The clip culminates as a young woman could be seen leaning over his casket when an older woman boldly jumps on her to pull her back.

After the physical altercation, a brawl breaks out in the church and commotion could be heard throughout the video. 

Toward the end of the clip, Fort Worth Police were seen intervening as they were reportedly called to the scene twice but no arrest or citations were made.

Daily Mail has reached out to representatives for Allen for comment and have yet to hear back. 

The altercation has drawn a divide between two sides in the reality star’s family as Allen’s father Eddie Powell told TMZ that the woman who was leaning over the casket was his girlfriend.

Powell also claims that the side of Allen’s mother, Angela Tolbert, had assaulted her while she was trying to place a note on his body and kiss him goodbye.

Powell told the publication: ‘She was his heart. She was trying to help him get mental health treatment when the police got involved instead.’

Allen’s father also said that his girlfriend had hopes of marrying him and that the woman actually had received ‘direct permission’ from Allen’s mother to attend the services.

Powell explained: ‘She came in peace. She showed nothing but grace, patience, and love.’

The father did not attend the rest of the funeral services after the altercation.

A different person who was in attendance at the funeral claimed online that the woman who was beaten was actually his ex-girlfriend according to TMZ.

Allen passed away at 36 in September as it was claimed at the time that he was struck by a train.

The professional dancer from Fort Worth, Texas died at a hospital near his home on Tuesday, September 30 a family member told TMZ at the time.

That same family member asked fans for ‘privacy and prayers’ as they remembered the dancer as a man of integrity and a person who always wanted to bring family together.

Powell also told TMZ that his son had struggled with mental health issues long before his passing.

Of his son, he told the publication: ‘He was a beautiful soul — a man fighting battles that too many people ignore. That’s what I want people to remember.’

Back in September, friend of the late dancer Emmanuel Hurd told the publication that he was ‘a very honest, real person.’

Hurd continued to TMZ: ‘He didn’t always do things the way that everybody thought he should, but that’s why he was a winner.’ 

He is best known for winning the reality dancing competition show in 2008.

Allen actually won over Stephen ‘tWitch’ Boss who was runner up on the show and they became good friends. 

Boss – who went on to become DJ and executive producer of The Ellen DeGeneres Show – died by suicide at age 40 in December 2022.

Of their relationship at the time Allen commented: ‘We were really happy for each other. We were two of the closest people there.’ 

Allen originally auditioned for SYTYCD in Dallas, Texas along with his friend and fellow contestant, Comfort Fedoke.

He ultimately was crowned on August 7, 2008 and earned the cash prize of $250,000. 

 After he earned the victory, he revealed at that he actually had no technical dance training as a kid but did work on a few things before his audition.

Allen told Entertainment Weekly: ‘I took a few modern dance classes, ballet classes, because I felt that to be a better dancer I would have to take different classes, and expand my horizons in the art of dance.

‘I didn’t want to audition for the show not knowing anything.’

After nailing his audition, there were months before he moved to Las Vegas ahead of the live shows so he strategically spent that time taking ‘as many classes as I could’ which certainly paid off. 

He said: ‘I really wasn’t that technically trained. I would just try to take classes in the summer, and when it was school time I would take class, run track, play football.

‘I would always just train in the summer. So it was never hard training.’

He did find success on the big screen after his SYTYCD win as he was a featured dancer in 2010 flick Step Up 3D in addition to the Footloose remake in 2011.

He also took part as a dancer and choreographer in Oxygen’s Dance Your Ass Off back in 2010 and even had acting roles on television shows Community and American Horror Story.

Allen made headlines again in 2016 for a domestic violence arrest involving an ex-girlfriend.

He was ultimately sentenced to one year in jail after pleading no contest to the charges and received five years probation in addition to one year of domestic violence counseling according to Deadline. 

Allen’s final Instagram post was a tribute post to The Cosby Show star Malcolm Jamal Warner who passed away in July at the age of 54.