The family of Ana Clara Benevides, the young woman who died at Taylor Swift‘s concert on November 17 in Rio de Janeiro, attended the singer’s last show in São Paulo, Brazil, and met with her. In a video spread online, the student’s family met in a VIP area with tents at the Allianz Parque stadium. It’s unclear if Benevides’ family was personally invited by Swift’s team, but it seems that way from the photo of her with the singer.
What happened to Ana Clara Benevide
As previously reported, Benevides suffered cardiac arrest at the pop star’s show in Rio de Janeiro before the start of the concert. Although emergency services were called, Benevides went into cardiac arrest a second time on the way to the hospital and was pronounced dead. Following the news of a fan’s death, Taylor Swift wrote an emotional letter that she shared on Instagram:
“I can’t believe I’m writing these words, but with a broken heart I say that we lost a fan tonight before my show (…) I can’t even express how devastated I am by this.”
Swift added that she couldn’t “talk about this from the stage” because she felt “overwhelmed with grief.” At the time, Benevides‘ father, Weiny Machado, spoke after the death of his daughter:
“I lost my only daughter, a happy and intelligent girl. She was about to graduate in psychology next April (…) I have no words to express my pain. “She left home to fulfill a dream and came back dead.”
Machado also expressed his hope that police would investigate allegations that the Rio stadium banned fans from carrying water amid Brazil’s dangerous heat wave:
“I want it to be found out if they were prohibited from bringing water if there was negligence in assisting.”
The controversy on networks
After the meeting between the singer and Benevides’ family, users on social networks have done what they know best: make hasty judgments. Users were surprised by how smiling and pleased Benevides’ relatives looked at the concert and when they met Taylor Swift.
“If my family smiles like that after my death, I’m going to come and pull their legs”
Other comments:
“The dead to the hole and the living to the era tour”
“The girl died for the organization and they are going to take a photo everyone is happy”
Some users described the power of music and Taylor Swift’s connection with her fans and remembered that each person experiences grief differently.
What do you think?
This story was written in Spanish by Cora Bravo in Cultura Colectiva