We have tragic news for you today. A male model and LGBTQ rights advocate passed after a shocking fall while at a fashion show in São Paulo, Brazil.
26-year-old Brazilian Tales Soares, who went by the stage name Tales Cotta, collapsed while working on a show at São Paulo’s fashion week this past Saturday. He was later pronounced dead at a local hospital around 7 pm.
According to Fashion Week organizers, Soares suddenly became ill while in a parade of fashion brand Ocksa. A medical team immediately attended to Soares while on the catwalk. He was then rushed to the hospital.
That said, there are some mixed reports going around about the incident. The Guardian and local news source Folha de S Paulo report that Soares tripped on his shoelace and fell. At first, audience members thought the fall was a part of the show but soon discovered otherwise.
After Tales Soares was taken to the hospital, the fashion show continued. Everyone involved was closely accompanied. In addition, a minute of silence was held at the opening of every following parade show.
Warning: Video could potentially be triggering.
Fashion Week organizers later released a statement on Facebook to share what they knew about the event. A rough translation of an excerpt from the statement goes as follows:
“We deeply regret the death of tales, and we pay our condolences to the family here and personally. We are providing all necessary assistance in this sad moment.”
They then added, “We still need to score three subjects that come to us as questioning. ‘Was there food in the backstage?’ Every backstage has food with vegetarian options all the time it’s in operation. ‘Was there anything beyond the sudden illness?’ We still don’t have the official report and it’s not possible to affirm. ‘Why did the parade continue?’ Tales left the event being helped and alive. The organization and the brand Ocksa decided to follow, because we did not expect this outcome.”
