Nov 20, 2023
Taylor Swift Drops MASSIVE Announcement After Fan Dies During Concert
Taylor Swift makes announcement on instagram that she is postponing her next Eras Tour concert in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil after a super fan died from likely extreme temperatures during her show. John Iadarola and Francesca Fiorentini break it down on The Damage Report.
- 7 minutes
Over the weekend, Taylor Swift who is,
of course, in the middle of a massive
worldwide concert tour, decided to
postpone one of her shows in Rio de
Janeiro after a 23-year-old fan of hers
tragically passed during the performance.
Ana Clara Benevides Machado died
during the Friday night show, and
[00:00:17]
every detail that I read after
that makes it even more tragic.
The statements from friends and family
of Ana, but the fact that she had taken
her first flight ever to travel
there to see Taylor Swift,
who was her favorite musician.
She created a WhatsApp group to keep
her family updated, sending photos and
[00:00:35]
videos of her journey.
It's just an absolute tragedy, and I'm
sure that Taylor Swift must be devastated
that this happened at one of her shows.
She had posted this on Instagram saying,
I'm writing this from my
dressing room in the stadium.
The decision has been made
to postpone tonight's show
due to the extreme temperature in Rio.
[00:00:51]
The safety and well-being of my fans,
fellow performers, and crew has to and
always will come first, and
here's the personal tragedy.
And then there is the quest for
answers, did this have to happen?
Why did this happen?
And there are allegations flowing around
that an investigation needs to look into,
[00:01:09]
but allegations that people were not
allowed to bring their own water into
the concert hall.
Now, there are counter-allegations
saying that Ana and
her group had been given some water,
but it's still incredibly hot, and
we don't know what
accommodations were being made.
[00:01:25]
Every year is hotter than the year before.
Are our policies keeping pace with the
effect that we're having on our planet?
And could that have
potentially influenced this?
So that is absolutely devastating
on an individual level.
In a second, we're gonna zoom out and
talk about how this is playing
out at a much wider scale.
[00:01:43]
But, Francesca,
I'm not sure if you'd seen that news, but
it's devastating to think that someone
would die during such a great experience
that they were supposed to be having.
>> Speaker 2: Yeah, I did see the news,
and I also didn't know, however,
that Taylor Swift stopped the show, and
I understand that to some that
might seem like a no-brainer.
[00:02:00]
I don't think it is actually a no-brainer
that you would stop your show, I mean,
this is a massive stadium.
These are tens of thousands of people,
and if some person has to be
often might be taken to the medic
because it's a massive crowd,
there's a swell, they faint, it happens,
right, in concerts all the time.
[00:02:20]
But the fact that she stopped it,
I mean, look, I'm not a Swifty,
but I'm starting to become a little bit of
a Swifty, because Taylor continues to do
stuff that not every massively famous
celebrity would necessarily do that.
That's number one.
But number two is yeah, man, I mean,
[00:02:37]
we talk about it in this country
when it comes to Ticketmaster and
the way that venues are super greedy, but
not giving people water affordably or
not allowing them sort of
safe passage to get water.
And for sure,
if you're in the front there, yeah,
[00:02:53]
you should be given a lot of water because
you can't really leave to go get water.
That's just something and it's like yeah,
man, if they're gonna charge you $12 a
bottle, they will, if they can, they will.
If they cannot give you safe passage,
again, these are greedy-ass venues,
[00:03:09]
and it's around the world
that they behave like this.
I mean, the other thing is flying
gets you incredibly dehydrated, and
she had flown for the first time.
Who knows, she must have been super
excited, it sucks, it's awful.
>> Speaker 1: Yeah, just look, even
absent our increasingly hot world, again,
[00:03:27]
these are allegations,
I don't know for sure, we will see.
But if they are stopping it, and if they
are, the reason you would do that is
because you wanna make money off
of it by jacking up the price.
How does it not seem inevitable that
with a population that large that
[00:03:42]
that would have these
sorts of consequences?
Again, absolutely devastating, but this is
a case study inside of a world in which we
can expect to see a lot more of this,
because the world is getting hotter and
our infrastructure is not
set up to accommodate that.
And the infrastructure can be as
specific as your water policies at
[00:04:01]
a massive stadium, and
this is not a one in a million thing.
There are many events like this happening
constantly throughout the year in
the hottest periods, not just in Rio de
Janeiro, in the United States as well.
But it also goes all the way up to how
our literal infrastructure is not set
[00:04:16]
up for this.
The roads, the buildings are not set up
to keep people safe, people at concerts,
people working.
We saw people in the summer in southern
United States dropping in the streets,
and when they'd hit the street,
second degree burns from how hot it is.
[00:04:32]
That is the world that we have created.
It is not the world that
we're looking to 2075 for.
We are there right now,
2075's gonna be worse, trust me, but
what we're in right now is not acceptable
and so something needs to be done.
[00:04:48]
And I just wanted to let people know
that when trying to take stock of
responsibility, because I instantly
thought of how responsible would I
feel as Taylor Swift for this?
And I came to the conclusion,
not at all, it isn't down on you, but
in a larger sense,
who is responsible for this?
[00:05:05]
Well, you're not that responsible for
the heating of the globe,
but there are some individuals who are.
The richest 1% of humanity
is responsible for
more carbon emissions
than the poorest 66%.
>> Speaker 2: Jesus.
>> Speaker 1: This is just 77 million
people that make up billionaires,
[00:05:23]
millionaires, and
those paid more than $140,000 US a year,
accounted for
16% of all CO2 emissions in 2019.
Enough to cause more than an estimated
million excess deaths due to heat,
and here's the weird way
that the world works.
[00:05:40]
I bet hearing the million figure
naturally affects you less
than hearing about Ana's tragic death.
That one tragic death from heat, well,
there's 1 million a year off of that, and
it is only getting worse,
so bear that in mind.
Francesca, what do you think?
[00:05:56]
>> Speaker 2: Yeah, just imagine all
of those people were at a Taylor Swift
concert and they, was their first
time seeing Taylor Swift, and
then maybe we can start [LAUGH] to have
more empathy for this incredible problem.
And yeah, look, I mean, Taylor's part of
the 1%, let's be real, I'm imagining.
[00:06:13]
>> I think, quite thoroughly, yeah.
>> Speaker 2: So, yeah,
I'd be interested in seeing.
I think she and other celebrities
could potentially lead in terms of,
not offset, but actually reversing
course on the damage that they do,
[00:06:28]
even by their private jets and
their massive tours.
>> Speaker 1: 100%, by the way,
really fast, if we go to graphic three,
you're gonna see a chart of
the climate emissions of billionaires.
Do you understand how much you'd have to
zoom in to see us or you in the audience?
[00:06:44]
Literally, our entire audience and
everyone that our audience knows,
by the way, would not merit on there.
But these individuals, those 12 people you
saw on that list, produce more greenhouse
gas emissions than the annual energy
emissions of 2 million homes, 12 people.
[00:07:00]
So when someone tries to make you feel bad
about the state of the environment, look,
it is right to care and it is right to
make certain changes to the extent that
you can, but you don't do that because
success or failure depends on you.
That is not how it works.
Larger structural changes are the only
thing that's gonna fix that.
[00:07:17]
We can participate, we can be
a part of it, I hope that we will.
But these individuals,
their individual actions do actually
matter on that level and
you almost never hear about it.
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The Damage Report: November 20, 2023
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