Magician Breaks Down During Powerful ‘AGT’ Act Inspired by Adopted Son
NBC/ YouTube Reading Time: 3 minutes
Magician Dustin Tavella created a magical moment on the America’s Got Talent stage that left him feeling extremely emotional. His act is inspired by his adopted son Xander. This performance left a huge impact on the judges in the first look at his Season 16 audition.
Dustin Tavella Performs Emotional ‘AGT’ Act About His Son’s Adoption
Dustin came to audition for Season 16 of America’s Got Talent with his wife Kari and his adorable son. Prior to his act, Dustin emailed a bunch of pictures to host Terry Crews. Crews did not look at the photos beforehand.
“I believe there are two kinds of magic,” Dustin started off. “The first is the kind that you see performed on stages like this but there’s a second kind and it’s the most real and it’s the most powerful magic that exists. It’s the magic that happens when one individual makes a decision that positively impacts another human life forever.”
With this performance, Dustin’s goal was to combine those two types of magic. He started by making Heidi Klum choose a random flashcard. Dustin told Sofia Vergara to mark off a random day in February on the calendar in front of her. Howie Mandel was told to think of a random last name and write it down on the paper in front of him. He chose “Smith.” Simon Cowell wrote down a random time on a piece of paper. Crews was told to think of an inspiring word that sums up his heart. He chose “power.”
Dustin revealed that the couple adopted their son when he was two months old. He got emotional up on stage talking about the most magical day of his life when his son became an official part of the Tavella family. The judge gave Xander a white stuffed dog that day.
Dustin made Klum show everyone which flashcard she chose. It happened to be a card with a picture of the exact same stuffed dog on it. Crews opened up the email that Dustin sent him. In one photo, Xander stood inside of a cardboard box that said “On February 21, 2020, Judge Smith made Dustin and Kari my mommy and daddy.”
Cowell wrote down 7:04 on his piece of paper. Sure enough, in the background of the photo of Xander, the clock says 7:04. Dustin wanted to end the act honoring Xander’s biological mother for making such a difficult decision. Crews scrolled down to the last photo in his email showing Xander’s mom holding a sign that says “power.” Dustin burst into tears and the judges gave him a standing ovation.
His Rise to Fame During Viral YouTube Singing Career
Dustin started his YouTube channel in 2010 where he began to release original songs. It was his song “Everybody Knows (Douchebag)” that caught the attention of superstar Selena Gomez. She posted a video dancing to the song in 2013 as a dig at her ex-boyfriend Justin Bieber.
Gomez’s bestie Francia Raisa starred in the music video for the song which now has over 1.6 million views on YouTube. Gomez even made a cameo towards the end of the video. Actor Danny Trejo who just competed on The Masked Singer also starred in Dustin’s music video. Since this video took off, Dustin has continued to post more songs, collaborations with his wife, and episodes of his own show called D PLUS.
Dustin has since begun pursuing a magic career while still pursuing his musical passions. He’s a double threat and will absolutely be going through to the Judge Cuts this season. We can’t wait to see how he fuses the two during Season 16 of America’s Got Talent which premieres on June 1.
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