Taylor Swift Meets With Fan’s Family After Tragic Death in Rio de Janeiro Concert
Brazilian authorities have launched an investigation into Time4Fun, the company behind Taylor Swift‘s Eras Tour shows in the country.
The investigation comes after the death of Ana Clara Benevides Machado on November 17. There have also been reports from other fans who suffered through a record-breaking heatwave in Rio de Janeiro.
In a statement to NBC News, the city’s Civil Police Department said they are looking into whether the company endangered the life and health of attendees. “Event organizers will be called to testify, and other steps are underway to investigate the facts,” the statement said.
Fans are blaming Time4Fun for a brutal concert experience
Many fans blame the entertainment company for how they organized the show, especially the lack of water during extreme temperatures.
Time4Fun’s CEO Serafim Abreu took to Instagram Thursday to issue an apology on behalf of the company. According to Rolling Stone, over 1,000 people fainted during the November 17 concert. Videos posted on social media show fans struggling to get water and packing tight during the three-hour concert.
“We know the enormous responsibility we have to organize an event of this scale. Which is why we did not economize in our efforts or resources to follow the best global practices in our industry to guarantee the comfort and safety of all,” he said in the video.
According to T4F, Benevides fainted hours before the show. She was taken to a nearby hospital where she died after reportedly going into cardiac arrest. After that day’s show, the company announced they would allow fans to enter with water bottles and sealed foods.
Benevides’ family got VIP treatment at Taylor Swift’s final show in Brazil
For her final show in Brazil, Taylor Swift invited Benevides’ family to attend her show in Sāo Paulo. It was also her last show of the year before she heads to Europe, Asia and Australia. A video clip posted on X shows her family watching the concert from the VIP tent at Allianz Parque stadium.
Her father, Weiny Machado was part of the group of five that met Swift. They all wore shirts with Benevides’ face printed on the front. He is also calling for more information on the company’s handling of the extreme temperatures, which reports say reached 102 degrees on Nov. 17.
“I want to know if it’s true that they were prohibited from bringing water and neglected to provide assistance,” he told Brazilian newspaper Folha de S.Paulo. “I lost my only daughter, a happy and intelligent girl.”
Swift did not mention Benevides’ by name during her subsequent shows. But she seemed to get emotional while playing her song “Bigger Than the Whole Sky,” at the postponed show on November 19.
“I’m not going to be able to speak about this from stage because I feel overwhelmed by grief when I even try to talk about it,” the singer wrote on Instagram after the death. “I want to say now I feel this loss deeply and my broken heart goes out to her family and friends.”
