A Taylor Swift Fan Who Attended The Same Show Where A Swiftie Died Has Shared A Terrifying First-Hand Account Of His Experience In The “Chaos” That Made Him Fear For His Life
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Last Friday, 23-year-old Taylor Swift fan Ana Clara Benevides Machado tragically died while attending the star’s Eras tour in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Nossos sentimentos aos familiares e amigos de Ana Clara Benevides, fã da Taylor Swift que sofreu uma parada cardiorespitatória devido ao extremo calor no estádio Nilton Santos na noite de ontem. JUSTIÇA POR ANARETIREM OS TAPUMES T4F EXIGIMOS RESPEITOEXIGIMOS ÁGUA EM EVENTOS pic.twitter.com/BotBzbwIua
— Claudia Informa (@ClaudiaInforma) November 18, 2023
Twitter @ClaudiaInforma / Via Twitter: @ClaudiaInforma
While it was initially reported that Ana had died before Taylor took to the stage, it was later said that she actually fell ill during the second song on Taylor’s setlist, passing out during “Cruel Summer.”
Ana Clara was taken to a local hospital but later died. Her cause of death is currently unconfirmed, but it is believed to be connected to the dangerous heat wave that was impacting Brazil at the time.
Fans waited for hours in the sun ahead of Taylor’s show, and venue rules reportedly banned them from bringing their own water bottles inside. In videos from the concert, Taylor can be seen requesting water for her fans, and at one point even threw a bottle into the crowd herself.
On Saturday, Taylor canceled her scheduled concert shortly before she was due to take to the stage due to the “extreme temperatures” in Rio.
And TikToker Derick Rilea, who also attended Friday’s Rio show, recently shed some more light on the troubling situation inside of the stadium as he shared his own experience from the concert.
TikTok @derick_rilea / Via tiktok.com
In a video, Derick says that he suffered heat stroke after attending Taylor’s show as he detailed “the chaos” that began as soon as he got to the stadium when venue staff apparently didn’t know which gate his ticket allowed him entrance from.
As a result of the confusion, Derick ended up running around the large stadium trying to find the correct entry point himself. When he finally found the correct gate, he was prevented from entering until he threw away the two sealed 1.5 liter bottles of water that he’d bought especially because of the heat.
In the TikTok, Derick recalls security telling him that he wasn’t allowed to bring in any outside water. He says: “I’m basically begging him, like: ‘Can I please bring this in,’ and he’s just frustrated with me and he’s telling me to go back out the exit and figure out what I’m going to do.”
In order for Derick to see Taylor that evening, his “only option” was to throw the bottles away, and he says that he drank as much as he could before going through security, when he ended up getting a spot right in front of the barricade.
“I was desperately in need of water pretty quickly because it’s such a hot day and after running so much I was sweating intensely, and also we’re just in a crowd of people in this insane heat,” he explains. “I think they said 40 degrees celsius [104F], but the atmosphere felt closer to 60 degrees celsius [140F].”
“So a very, very hot day in a crowd of people packed like sardines is just unbearable,” Derick goes on. “I’m sweating everywhere, there’s the security guards right in front of me because I’m near the barricade and I’m like: ‘Hey, can I have some water?’ Because they have this water to pass out, as they do in every concert… The security is meant to pass it out so people in the audience can stay hydrated.”
“So I’m like: ‘Water, water, water,’ and mouthing for water and I’m saying ‘water’ and they’re just ignoring me,” he adds, clarifying that by this point Taylor was on stage. “I’m begging him and they’re looking in my eyes and doing nothing.”
After 20 minutes, Derick says that he started to “freak out” as every part of his body was “drenched” with sweat and nobody around him had any water to share. After making “last-ditch attempts” to get help from security, he decided to leave the show, saying: “This isn’t worth my life.”
As Derick was at the front of the crowd, the quickest way out of the venue was to go over the barricade, especially as he felt “really close to fainting at this point.” People around him tried to help him over, only for security to apparently come over “screaming” and telling him that he needs to work his way backwards through the crowd.
Seeing how unwell Derick was becoming, the other fans helped him over as the security is said to have continued to try and stop him. Once he was on the other side, Derrick says: “I manage my way over and he’s grabbing me — and supporting me because I’m falling over — and essentially dragging me out of the stadium. And I’m like, OK, he’s going to bring me to a medic, no, he brings me to a drinks vendor.”
Derick says as soon as the security guard let him go, he “immediately” fell over because he was “barely conscious.” At this point, somebody brought him a chair as he repeatedly asked for water despite being so dehydrated he was “barely vocal.”
“I’m crying and I’m begging for water,” he recalls. “And the people are fanning me, and they get somebody over to put ice on my wrists and she’s looking for a pulse and she’s like: ‘I don’t feel a pulse,’ so in my mind I’m thinking: OK, I’m dying, this is what dying is like.”
As Derick continued to ask for water, he says that he was told that he needs to pay for it even though he was struggling to get to his wallet as he was in such a bad way. When he finally got his card, he says he was charged R$40, which is approximately $8, for a small bottle of water. He adds that he’d paid R$5, around $1, for the bottles he intended to take into the stadium.
After downing the water, Derick says that the staff tried to make him buy a Coca-Cola as well because he needed “something sweet.” Wrapping up the TikTok, he claims: “The purpose of the story, really, is that my life was not safe there at that concert. I was undergoing a medical emergency and their only concern was price-gouging me for water.”
Derick’s account comes as organizers behind the show issued an apology following Ana Clara’s death — and admitted that they should have handled the situation differently.
In a video that was posted to entertainment company T4F’s X page, its chief executive Serafim Abreu says that they are willing to provide assistance to Ana Clara’s family in any way possible.
Speaking in Portuguese and translated to English by BuzzFeed, Serafim acknowledges the extreme temperatures in Rio last week and says: “We recognize that we could have taken some additional alternative actions to the ones that we did. Such as creating shaded areas in external areas, changing the time of the scheduled show, and placing greater emphasis on allowing people to enter with disposable water cups.”
“I want to apologize to everyone who didn't have the best possible experience delivered at the best event,” he adds.
In reference to Ana Clara’s death, Serafim says: “We are absolutely devastated, very sad, about the loss of the fan despite the prompt care and all the efforts made by the medical teams. Ana Clara's family, I want to express our most sincere feelings here, and publicly share our willingness to lend assistance in whatever way necessary.”
Confira a mensagem do nosso CEO, Serafim Abreu, sobre os recentes acontecimentos relacionados à turnê da cantora Taylor Swift no Brasil. Para mais informações, acesse o comunicado oficial da T4F no site https://t.co/cG5bxIpODt. pic.twitter.com/TdAXzb4viy
— T4F (@t4f) November 23, 2023
Twitter @t4f / Via Twitter: @t4f
He clarifies that he has already spoken directly to Ana’s family and their lawyer by telephone and in writing since the incident.
Taylor publicly acknowledged the tragedy on her social media page after Friday’s show, writing on her Instagram story at the time: “I can't believe I'm writing these words. but it is with a shattered heart that I say we lost a fan earlier tonight before my show. I can't even tell you how devastated I am by this. There's very little information I have other than the fact that she was incredibly beautiful and far too young.”
“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," she went on. "I want to say now that I feel this loss deeply and my heart goes out to her family and friends. This is the last thing I ever thought would happen when we decided to bring this tour to Brazil."
When she returned to the stage on Sunday night, Taylor performed her emotional song “Bigger Than The Whole Sky” as a surprise, which was interpreted to be a tribute to Ana Clara.
That same day, Ana’s heartbroken mom, Adriana Benevides, appeared in a TV interview where she broke down in tears over the fact that the family couldn’t afford to fly her daughter’s body home from Rio.
A mãe falando que a T4f não tá dando o suporte pra levar o corpo de Ana Clara Bevenides pra cidade. 🥺#Fantástico #TheErasTourRio pic.twitter.com/5n0GLJjEJy
— Brenno De Moura (@mbrenno_) November 20, 2023
Twitter @mbrenno_ / Via Twitter: @mbrenno_
Ana had flown to the city from the small district of Sonora in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul in Brazil especially for Taylor’s concert, and it had marked her first time on a plane.
After Adriana’s interview aired, Swifties took it upon themselves to crowd fund the money that they needed, with Brazilian news outlet G1 reporting that fans raised R$30,000 [around $6,000] in less than 12 hours.
Ana was laid to rest in Pedro Gomes, the city where her father lives, on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, there has been some confusion over whether or not Taylor has been in touch with Ana’s family after her death, with Ana’s cousin Gabriela Benevides denying reports in US media that she had contacted them.
A representative for Ana’s family did not respond when contacted by BuzzFeed, and Taylor’s publicist declined to comment.
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