Taylor Swift’s Death at Concert in Brazil: Why Fans Argue About Who’s to Blame – Slate

It was announced over the weekend that 23-year-old Ana Clara Benevides Machado, who became ill during a Taylor Swift concert in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, died on Friday. Swift’s Friday show took place during a heat wave that caused record temperatures in the Brazilian city, which felt like it was nearly 140 degrees Fahrenheit that day, according to the heat index. City officials reported that Benevides suffered cardiac arrest after losing consciousness at the concert. Since the incident, numerous accusations have been made against Swift and the event’s organizers, as shocked and grieving fans try to piece together what happened. Read on for a recap of what everyone involved says happened and what they want authorities to do about it.

OK, let’s start with what the organizers and Taylor Swift’s camp say. What is their version of events?

On Friday, Swift posted a statement on her Instagram Story in which she was “heartbroken” to reveal that a fan had died earlier that night “before” her show at Nilton Santos Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Swift stated that she had “very little information” but described the fan as “incredibly beautiful and way too young.” She ended the message by declaring that she would not discuss the onstage tragedy – Friday’s show was scheduled to be the first of three sold-out concerts Swift would perform over three days in Rio before traveling on to São Paulo – but she feels[s] “I deeply regret this loss,” he expressed his love to the fan’s family and friends, expressing his dismay by stating, “This is the last thing I ever thought when we decided to take this tour to Brazil relocate.”

On Saturday, one of the event’s local organizers, Time For Fun, released an official statement in Portuguese on its Twitter page (X), revealing that the anonymous fan from Swift’s post was Benevides. T4F said Benevides was attended to by the venue’s paramedics before being taken to hospital where she received emergency medical treatment for almost an hour before she tragically passed away.

That’s awful! Was Benevides the only one experiencing symptoms at the show?

Swift performed in front of over 60,000 people in this amazing heat. Local news outlets report that at least a thousand audience members fainted during the show, according to the city fire department. According to the New York Times, one concertgoer claimed that so many fans were sick before the show even began that he was able to climb onto the railing next to the stage as the performance began, claiming that “there was little staff” and even they ” were a little at a loss” as to what to do.

But surely the event organizers have taken precautions to accommodate the oppressive temperatures?

This is exactly what Swifties online and local authorities are currently investigating. One might think that record-breaking temperatures would require special safety measures for attendees, but climate change shows us how unprepared authorities can be for heat, and in this case it’s unclear whether organizers and venue owners are being as helpful as possible or remissly unhelpful were or authors of actual causes of danger.

It is also unclear to some to what extent Swift herself should be included in the group of those held responsible for Benevides’ death. If you were on the internet this past weekend, you may have seen some of this – particularly the varying reports about fans having access to water during the show.

Oh! I actually saw something about it. What was the whole water thing about?

Some fans claim they are not allowed to bring water into the stadium, although this has neither been confirmed nor denied by officials. According to Time, a fan present during Friday’s show described the atmosphere in the stadium as “sauna-like” and saw many other fans “looking distressed” and calling for water.

However, it is completely unclear to what extent and under what circumstances water was provided. Although there are claims that the venue continued to sell overpriced water after allegedly banning outside water from being brought into the venue, according to some fan reports, Swift’s team attempted to provide free water before the supply ran out, leaving some of the audience thirsty made. There are fan-shot videos of employees, supposedly from Taylor’s team, handing out water.

The crowd’s cries for water can be seen in many fan-shot videos posted to social media in which Swift stopped her show or was instructed several times to give water to the audience when she noticed fans shouting and waving their phone lights for help. Swifties have created an online petition proposing a “Benevides Law” that would make water mandatory for free at events. The petition already has over 323,000 signatures.

Of course, that doesn’t take into account the hours some fans spent waiting outside the arena in the hot sun before the doors opened.

That sounds terrible. Were there any other claims of negligence or restraint against the promoters and Swift’s statements?

A couple! Swifties have activated detective mode. A key, as yet unproven, allegation is that, although the venue is an open-air stadium, the openings on the outside of the stadium were closed to prevent people without tickets outside the stadium from seeing in Fan videoIt appears that some sides of the stadium are cordoned off. The fan also claims that some exits were blocked, making it difficult for them to leave the venue if they themselves felt sick.

Another allegation concerns the stadium’s flooring. According to fan pictures and online testimonials, the venue covered the stadium’s turf with metal flooring, which not only made the area hotter, but also caused serious injuries to some fans who fell on it (this link contains a content warning for images of burns!). Burns.

Additionally, fans chided Swift and organizers for carrying out the show’s visual effects and pyrotechnics as planned despite temperatures being so high. Some Brazilian Swifties banded together to issue a public request for the pop star to “reconsider” the use of pyrotechnics in her subsequent shows.

Neither Swift nor T4F have commented on these specific claims regarding Friday’s show.

Quality. That has to be it, right? Please say that’s it.

There’s another argument people have, and that’s with the singer herself. In her first statement in the hours after the show, Swift wrote that Benevides died before her performance, but Benevides’ girlfriend, who accompanied the fan, stated that she actually initially fainted at the start of the concert while Swift performed the song “Cruel Summer” at the start of her set.

Wait, I don’t understand. What does this change?

As far as I can tell, nothing at all, and some news articles about the tragedy made the same claim as Swift, but some are still definitely suspicious of Swift because of it. I attribute this to two main things: 1) People are looking for someone to blame, and 2) The failure on the part of the venue organizer to mention any of these supposedly poor decisions that put concertgoers at risk has the fans made very suspicious. Because of this, they look for every inconsistency they can find. I mean, that and the fact that there will always be people who love Miss Swift and people who hate her – both camps are waiting for the moment to make their contribution.

They said this show was the first of three on three consecutive days. Were any changes made due to the tragedy of the first show?

In a statement on Saturday on easily accessible drinking water. Brazil’s national consumer minister Wadih Damous criticized the alleged ban on bringing your own water and said the government would investigate the company. And ahead of the following show, the production company announced that it would be “increasing” its precautionary measures, including more free water access, adding around 200 additional staff members and more medical stations and resources. They also announced they will allow guests to bring their own water in sealed glass or flexible plastic containers, as well as sealed processed foods.

T4F also added, apparently in an attempt to shift blame, that “banning the entry of water bottles into stadiums is a requirement of public bodies” and that since T4F does not sell food or drinks, it is the “responsibility of ” falls the stadium administration.” In a separate post, T4F also suggests that fans should arrive closer to the opening time of the doors to “avoid long exposure to the sun.”

Swift ultimately postponed Saturday’s show until Monday. But when the show was canceled in the morning, thousands of fans had already turned up, causing chaos as the crowd dispersed. Nevertheless, Swift continued on Sunday with what was actually her third and final show in the city. During the show, Swift performed her song “Bigger Than the Whole Sky,” which some Swifties felt was a tribute to Benevides.

Kevin Mattson

In the 60s and 70s, people repeatedly died at big concerts. Punk rock had an answer.

Read more

You mentioned guilt –Is Is Taylor Swift to blame for any of this? I remember having a similar conversation with rapper Travis Scott and the Astroworld tragedy a few years ago, but I can’t remember how it was all resolved.

Unfortunately, deaths in large crowds are not uncommon, even at concerts. Many probably remember the Astroworld tragedy of 2021, when dozens of concertgoers were injured and ten died of asphyxiation because of a crowd at the start of a Travis Scott set in Texas. Although the circumstances of the deaths at Scott and Swift’s shows are different, they both raise the question of who exactly is to blame for tragic events like these. It’s hard to say how we at Astroworld came to this conclusion, because although the Texas grand jury declined to criminally indict the organizers or Scott, over 500 lawsuits were filed against the concert promoters (Live Nation) and some of them against Scott which both parties have already resolved out of court.

Ultimately, there seems to be widespread belief that the promoters are to blame, not the artists – for many reasons, but mainly because it’s difficult to determine the extent to which the artists can perceive what’s going on in the crowd without the help of proper communication . Scott’s role as organizer of the event is unclear, as he was the “host” of the festival, and he is known to have encouraged louder behavior at his shows. Swift, on the other hand, has no history of this and therefore would likely not be legally at fault.

Unfortunately, that won’t stop some fans from feeling like she needs to be included in her quest for justice since she was the person with the most power in the situation. And that, in turn, won’t stop her fans from defending her against these claims. Only time will tell how this will all play out legally, but hopefully there will at least be water from now on.