It was reported that Taylor Swift would be flying home from her Eras Tour for boyfriend Travis Kelce’s Monday night game against the Philadelphia Eagles, but it looks like changes in her schedule have canceled their date. Her plans to return were first revealed when Kelce’s Kansas City Chiefs colleague Chris Jones told Rich Eisen on Friday in an interview that he’d been planning to go out with the couple post-game.
However, since that interview, tragedy struck at Swift’s concert in Rio De Janeiro. Just before her show that night, 23-year-old Ana Clara Benevides Machado died after collapsing at Estádio Olímpico Nilton Santos. The open-air stadium hosting Swift’s concert was over 100 degrees, and Benevides experienced a cardiac arrest in the record-breaking heat wave.
In a statement to fans following the news, Swift wrote, “I’m not going to be able to speak about this from stage because I feel overwhelmed by grief when I even try to talk about it. 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.”
On Saturday, the heat continued to be so extreme that Swift announced the show would be canceled and postponed until Monday night. According to her original schedule, Swift would have theoretically had time to head to Philly and then back to Brazil for her next concert in São Paulo on November 24.
She again wrote to fans 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 temperatures in Rio. The safety and well being of my fans, fellow performers and crew has to and will always come first.”
Aimée Lutkin is the weekend editor at ELLE.com. Her writing has appeared in Jezebel, Glamour, Marie Claire and more. Her first book, The Lonely Hunter, will be released by Dial Press in February 2022.