Death of Ana Clara Benevides

In this Portuguese name, the first or maternal family name is Benevides and the second or paternal family name is Machado.

Death of Ana Clara Benevides

Estádio Olímpico Nilton Santos, where the incident took place
Date	17 November 2023 (2023-11-17)
Time	c. 7:30 p.m. BRT (UTC−03:00)
Location	Estádio Olímpico Nilton Santos, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Coordinates	22.8933°S 43.2923°W / -22.8933; -43.2923
Deaths	One person

On 17 November 2023, at the Estádio Olímpico Nilton Santos in Rio de Janeiro, before American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift's first concert, an incident took place during which one person died, the concertgoer was a Brazilian student Ana Clara Benevides Machado.

On the day of the concert, Rio de Janeiro recorded an abnormal heat index of 59.3°C (138.7°F), as part of a heat wave across South America. Nevertheless, the concert organizer, Brazilian entertainment company T4F – Time For Fun, reportedly prohibited concertgoers from bringing their own water bottles into the venue, citing "security concerns". Their decision caused about one thousand fans to faint before and during the show due to dehydration, according to firefighter estimates. Swift had observed some of the fainted audience members halfway through the show and ordered her team to dispense water bottles to them.

Benevides queued outside the stadium for around eight hours before the stadium personnel allowed entry. She posted pictures and videos of herself to WhatsApp and social media, and described the drawn-out waiting experience as a "mess". After feeling unwell, she reported to paramedics and fainted shortly after the concert commenced. Benevides was taken to a first aid center before she was transferred to Salgado Filho Hospital; Rio de Janeiro's health agency reported that she arrived without a pulse. She was declared dead an hour later following several resuscitation attempts.

The death sparked a widespread public condemnation of T4F for their poor concert management. Many Swifties claimed that the water bottle ban, exacerbated by the heat wave, caused attendees to fall sick and led to Benevides' death. Swift publicly grieved for Benevides and postponed her 18 November concert to 20 November, citing "extreme temperatures". Politicians such as the federal minister of justice and public security, Flávio Dino, and the mayor of Rio de Janeiro, Eduardo Paes, announced that appropriate precautions would be implemented in the public events henceforth, with free water stations amongst other obligations. Congresswoman Erika Hilton opined that T4F should be held accountable and voiced for a bill that criminalizes lack of free water at concerts.

Background

Taylor Swift at the Eras Tour (2023)

Swift announced the Latin American leg of her sixth headlining concert tour, the Eras Tour, on 2 June 2023, with Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo amongst its stops in November 2023, marking Swift's return to Brazil after an 11-year gap. More shows were added in both cities following high demand.

Brazilian entertainment company T4F – Time For Fun served as an official partner for the tour, responsible for the tour's ticket sales and stadium management in Brazil. Unrest was reported on 11 June 2023, outside the Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo venues' box offices as scalpers attempted to bypass the queued fans, including some armed scalpers who threatened violence; police arrived at the scene to maintain order. T4F was reported over 100 times to authorities for their inaction. On 20 June, congress members of Brazil filed the "Taylor Swift Law", which penalized scalpers with up to four years in prison and a fine of up to 100 times the value of the ticket.

From 14 November 2023, Brazil began experiencing a heat wave, with red alerts issued to around 3,000 towns and cities across the country. According to The Independent, "over a hundred million people have reportedly been impacted by the extreme weather."

Incident

On 17 November 2023, for the first Brazilian concert of the Eras Tour in Rio de Janeiro, T4F reportedly prohibited concertgoers from bringing their own water bottles inside the venue for security reasons. According to Variety, it was one of the hottest days recorded in Rio de Janeiro, with a heat index of 59.3 °C (138.74 °F), exacerbated by humidity of 84% and a lack of a breeze. A number of fans were dehydrated and fainted before and during the show; video footage posted to social media showed queued fans with disposable coolers, fans, umbrella and bags of ice. Time reported that thousands of fans, especially those with general admission tickets for the floor, waited for hours in the sun before being allowed inside the stadium.

Before the show began, Benevides reported to paramedics present at the stadium that she was feeling unwell. She fainted at around 7:30 p.m. during Swift's performance of "Cruel Summer", the second song in the tour's set-list. According to T4F, paramedics attended to Benevides before she was rushed to a first aid center, and then to Salgado Filho Hospital, where she died an hour later, despite several resuscitation attempts. Rio de Janeiro's health service agency reported that she arrived at the hospital without a pulse. The state's public prosecutor opened a criminal investigation and announced that Benevides' body was being examined to determine a cause of death. Folha de S.Paulo reported cardiorespiratory arrest as the cause; news about Benevides' death was first reported by Folha de S.Paulo, citing a confirmation from Benevides' cousin, Estela. According to Buenos Aires Herald, Benevides died of "cardiac arrest due to dehydration".

As the concert progressed, some fans attempted to indicate to Swift that they needed water and held signs. Swift paused her performance during the Evermore act of the show, noting the fainted audience members, and asked "whoever in charge" to dispense water to them several times during the concert. The crowds chanted "water, water" repeatedly; when the stadium staff did not respond, Swift's team then began distributing water bottles in the crowd. While singing "All Too Well (10 Minute Version)", around the halfway mark of the show, Swift collected a water bottle from one side of the stage and gave it to a dehydrated fan on the other side. According to the firefighters' estimates, around one thousand people fainted during the event.

Responses

Politicians such as (from left to right) Eduardo Paes, Flavio Dino and Erika Hilton scrutinized the issue.

Following the news of the death, T4F attracted widespread criticism from concert-goers, fans, and Brazilian politicians for the mismanagement of the concert. Several fans claimed that T4F "refused" to provide concertgoers water. On 17 November, following the news about the death of Benevides, T4F posted to social media explaining her death.

Taylor Swift

Swift posted on social media that she was "devastated" by the news: "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 [...] she was so incredibly beautiful and far too young". She added that "I want to say now I feel this loss deeply and my broken 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".

Political authorities

Brazilian federal authorities announced that "free water would be made available at all future concerts" and made "easily accessible". The minister of justice of Brazil, Flávio Dino, tweeted that the Ministry of Justice and Public Security will implement "emergency rules" regarding access to water at public events henceforth. According to CNN Brazil, the National Consumer Secretariat, a body of the Ministry of Justice and Public Security, gave T4F 24 hours to provide information surrounding Benivedes' death, including how the ban on access to water was reached, the availability of drinking fountains, the deployment of medical staff at the stadium, and procedures undertaken to help Benevides.

The mayor of Rio de Janeiro, Eduardo Paes, tweeted that the "loss of a young woman's life [...] is unacceptable" and stated that T4F will be demanded to "provide new water distribution points and more ambulances, and that entry be advanced by one hour." Congresswoman Erika Hilton, a PSOL member of the national Chamber of Deputies, condemned T4F and filed a complaint with the Ministry of Justice and Public Security, stating that T4F should be held accountable for its "criminal" offense, and introduced a bill draft that would make free water and drinking fountains at concerts mandatory and penalize companies that denying entry to concertgoers carrying water.

Benevides' father

Benevides' father, Weiny Machado, demanded punishment for those responsible for her death and called the water bottle ban "absurd". However, he also stated that he would "wait [for] the final medical report" before accusing someone of the death of his daughter to "avoid controversy". He stated that he was not contacted by T4F after the incident and that he learned of his daughter's death only from Menin, her friend, via phone call.

Aftermath

A group of Swifties launched an online petition on Change.org on 18 November 2023, demanding for a "Benevides Law" to "make water in events mandatory." The petition gained more than 150,000 signatures in a few hours. They also urged T4F to lift the ban on bringing water bottles, in light of the "unprecedented" heat wave.

On 18 November, the original day of the second Rio de Janeiro show, T4F placed water stations within the venue grounds to cater to the concertgoers. As temperatures on 18 November were reported to be worse than the previous day, Swift postponed the 18 November concert, citing "extreme temperatures". She explained that "the safety and well-being of my fans, fellow performers, and crew has to and always will come first." By Saturday morning, heat indexes at Jacarepaguá Airport were already 55 °C (131 °F). The announcement was done less than two hours prior to the scheduled start of the show, which prompted a negative reception from fans already in the venue.

T4F confirmed 20 November as the new date. It marked the second time a show on the Eras Tour has been postponed, after the second Buenos Aires show was delayed due to thunderstorms. LATAM Airlines, Gol Linhas Aéreas, and Azul Brazilian Airlines offered ticket-holders exemptions from rescheduling flight fees for the postponed Rio de Janeiro show. During her second show in Rio de Janeiro, Swift performed "Bigger Than the Whole Sky", a ballad about grief and heartache. Although she was not specifically mentioned throughout the performance, the inclusion was speculated to be a tribute to Benevides.

On the 20 november concert, in response of Benevides not being directly mentioned on the prior concert, fans planned to pay tribute to her in a specific moment of the concert after the performances of "Champagne Problems", where Swift usually would stop and let fans cheer on for minutes. This moment, however, unusually had a duration of less than one minute in the concert, which prompted speculation that Swift knew of concertgoers's intentions, which led to further criticism.