Following the death of a fan during Taylor Swift’s Rio de Janeiro event due to an intense heat wave, the CEO of the business booking the pop star’s tour dates in Brazil expressed regret on Thursday.
Fans claimed they were not allowed to bring water bottles inside the stadium for the show last Friday, even though the Brazilian beach city’s heat index reached 59 degrees Celsius (138 Fahrenheit). As a result, the organizers have come under fire after a 23-year-old fan in the 60,000-person sold-out audience passed away.
“We recognize we could have taken alternative measures in addition to all those we implemented, such as providing shade in external areas, changing the time of the concerts, and emphasizing that fans could enter the stadium with disposable water cups,” Serafim Abreu, head of Time For Fun, said in a video posted on social media.
“I want to apologize to all those who didn’t have the best possible experience,” he added, sending his “most sincere condolences” to the late fan’s family.
According to the company, the young woman fell ill and was attended to by emergency personnel promptly. She was subsequently taken to the hospital around one hour later.
According to the daily O Globo, a preliminary autopsy revealed that she had suffered three heart attacks and a lung hemorrhage.
Swift rescheduled the show for that evening for Monday after expressing on Saturday that she was “devastated” by the tragedy.
“We know that climate change means these episodes will be more and more frequent,” Abreu said.
“The entire concert industry has to rethink how it operates in the face of this new reality.”
Swift’s “Eras Tour” continues this week in Brazil, with concerts scheduled for Friday, Saturday and Sunday in Sao Paulo.
