Why are People Mad at Taylor Swift About the Fan Who Died in Brazil?

Over the weekend, news broke of the death of 23-year-old Ana Clara Benevides Machado, who fell sick during a Taylor Swift concert in Rio de Janeiro on Friday. Swift’s Friday show took place during a heat wave that caused record high temperatures in the Brazilian city, which, per the heat index, made it feel like nearly 140 degrees Fahrenheit that day. City officials reported that Benevides experienced cardiac arrest after losing consciousness at the concert. Since the incident, a lot of accusations have been tossed around in the direction of Swift and the event’s organizers, as shocked and grieving fans try to piece together what happened. Read on for a summary of what everyone is claiming went down, and what they’re asking authorities to do about it.

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

On Friday, Swift posted a statement to her Instagram Story revealing, “with a shattered heart,” that a fan passed away earlier that night “before” her show at the Nilton Santos stadium in Rio. Swift stated that she had “very little information” but described the fan as “incredibly beautiful and far too young.” She ended the message by explaining that she won’t be talking about the tragedy onstage—Friday’s show was supposed to be the first of three sold-out concerts Swift would perform over three days in Rio before moving on to São Paulo—but she “feel[s] this loss deeply,” was sending love to the fan’s family and friends, and expressed dismay, stating: “This is the last thing I ever thought would happen when we decided to bring this tour to Brazil.”

On Saturday, one of the event’s local organizers, Time for Fun, posted an official statement in Portuguese to their Twitter (X) page, revealing that the anonymous fan from Swift’s post was Benevides. T4F said that Benevides had been attended to by the venue’s paramedics before being transferred to a hospital, where she received almost an hour of emergency treatment before tragically passing.

That’s horrible! Was Benevides the only one who experienced symptoms at the show?

Swift performed for over 60,000 people in that astonishing heat. Local news outlets are reporting that the city’s fire department is claiming that at least 1,000 audience members fainted during the show. Per the New York Times, a concertgoer alleged that so many fans had fallen ill before the show even started that he was able to move up to the railing by the stage when the performance began, claiming that “there was little staff” and even they “were a little lost” as to what to do.

But surely the event organizers took precautions to accommodate for the sweltering temperatures?

That is exactly what Swifties online, as well as authorities on the ground, are investigating right now. One would think that record high temperatures would require special safety measures for attendees, but climate change is showing us how unprepared authorities can be for heat, and in this case it’s unclear whether the event organizers and venue owners were as helpful as possible, neglectfully unhelpful, or creators of actual causes of endangerment.

For some, it’s also unclear to what degree Swift herself should be included in the group of those deemed responsible for Benevides’ death. If you were on the internet this past weekend, you might have seen some of this—especially with varying reports about fans having access to water throughout the show.

Oh! I did see something about that actually. What was the whole water business about?

Some fans are alleging that they were not allowed to bring water into the stadium, though this has been neither confirmed nor denied by any official parties. According to Time, a fan present during Friday’s show described the atmosphere of the stadium as “sauna-like” and witnessed plenty of other fans “looking distressed” and shouting for water.

However, it is entirely unclear to what degree water was made available and under what circumstances. Though there are claims that the venue stuck to selling overpriced water after supposedly prohibiting bringing outside water into the venue, according to some fan reports, Swift’s team attempted to provide free water before supply ran out, leaving some of the audience thirsty. There are fan-recorded videos of staff members, supposedly on Taylor’s team, handing out water.

The yells for water from the crowd can be seen in many fan-captured videos posted to social media, in which Swift stopped her show or directed water be given to the audience multiple times, when she noticed fans yelling out and waving their phone lights for assistance. Swifties have created an online petition proposing a “Benevides law,” which would make water at events a mandatory free provision. The petition already has more than 323,000 signatures.

Of course, none of this is taking into account the hours some fans spent waiting outside the arena in the hot sun before the doors opened.

That sounds awful. Were there any other claims of negligence or pushback against the event organizers and Swift’s statements?

A few! Swifties have clicked into sleuth mode. One major, as yet unproven, accusation is that, though 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. In fan videos, it appears that some of the stadium’s sides are closed off. The fan also alleges that some exits were blocked, making it hard for them to leave the venue when they themselves were feeling sick.

Another allegation has to do with the flooring of the stadium. According to fan pictures and statements online, the venue covered the stadium grass with metal flooring, which not only made the environment hotter but also left some fans with severe burns after they fell on it (this link has a content warning for pictures of burns!).

Additionally, fans chastised Swift and the event organizers for carrying on the visual effects and pyrotechnics of the show as planned, despite the high temperatures. Some Brazilian Swifties came together to formulate a public request for the pop star to “reconsider the use” of pyrotechnics in her subsequent shows.

Neither Swift nor T4F has made any statements about these specific claims regarding Friday’s show.

Goodness. That must be it, right? Please say that’s it. 

There’s one more quibble people are having, and it’s with the singer herself. In her initial statement in the hours after the show, Swift wrote that Benevides died before her show, but a friend of Benevides who accompanied the fan states that she actually initially passed out at the beginning of the concert, while Swift was performing the song “Cruel Summer.”

Wait, I don’t get it. What does that 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 chalk this up to two major things: 1) People are looking for someone to blame, and 2) The failure on the venue organizer’s part to mention any of these alleged poor decisions that endangered concertgoers has made fans very suspicious. Because of that, they’re looking 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 waiting for their moment to add their two cents.

You said this show was the first of three over three consecutive days. Were any changes made because of the first show’s tragedy? 

In a statement on X on Saturday, Flávio Dino, Brazil’s minister of justice and public security, said that from now on water bottles will be allowed entry into shows, and companies producing shows “with high heat exposure” are required to provide free and easily accessible drinking water. Brazil’s national consumer secretary, Wadih Damous, lambasted the alleged prohibition on carrying one’s own water inside and said that the government would investigate the company. And ahead of the following show, the production company announced that it would be “reinforcing” its precautions, including adding more free water access points, staffing about 200 extra personnel, and providing more medical stations and resources. It also announced that it will allow patrons to bring their own water in sealed glass or flexible plastic containers, as well as sealed processed food.

T4F also noted, seemingly in an attempt to pass some blame, that “the prohibition of bottles of water entering stadiums is a requirement made by public bodies” and that, as T4F does not sell food or drink, it falls to the “responsibility of the stadium administration.” In a separate post, T4F suggested that fans arrive closer to the time doors open, to “avoid long periods of sun exposure.”

Swift eventually postponed the Saturday show to Monday. But thousands of fans had already shown up for the show by the time it was canceled that morning, leading to some mayhem as the crowds dispersed. Still, Swift carried on with what was supposed to be her third and final show in the city on Sunday. During the show, Swift played her song “Bigger Than the Whole Sky,” which some Swifties perceived as a tribute to Benevides.

You mentioned blame—is Taylor Swift to blame for any of this? I remember this similar conversation happening with rapper Travis Scott and the Astroworld tragedy a couple of years ago, but I don’t remember how that all resolved. 

Unfortunately, deaths in large crowds are not unheard of, and this also extends to concerts. Many likely remember the Astroworld tragedy of 2021, when dozens of concert goers were injured and 10 died from asphyxia due to a crowd surge at the beginning of a Travis Scott set in Texas. Though the circumstances of the deaths at Scott’s and Swift’s shows are different, they both ignite the question of who exactly is to blame in events like these. It’s hard to gather where we came down on this from Astroworld because, even though the Texas grand jury declined to indict the organizers or Scott on criminal charges, the concert organizers (Live Nation) and Scott have had over 500 lawsuits filed against them, some of which both parties have already settled out of court.

Ultimately, it seems to be common understanding that the event organizers, not the performers, would be at fault—for many reasons, but most of all because it’s hard to ascertain just how much performers are aware of what’s going on in the crowd without proper communication. Scott’s role as an organizer of the event is murky, given that he was a “host” of the festival, and he has a recorded history of encouraging raucous conduct at his shows. Swift, on the other hand, has no history of this and so, therefore, would likely not be at fault legally.

Unfortunately, this won’t stop some fans from feeling that, in their pursuit of justice, she must be implicated, as she was the person with the most power in the situation. And, in turn, this won’t stop her fans from defending her against those claims. Only time will tell how this will all play out legally, but hopefully from now on, at least there will be water.