On November 5, 2021 rapper Travis Scott held his highly anticipated “Astrofest” music festival in Houston, Texas where at least 10 people have been pronounced dead and hundreds injured.
Scott initiated Day 1 of “Astrofest” at 1:00 P.M including artists such as Metro Boomin, Don Toliver, Roddy Rich, and Lil Baby. Scott’s performance was scheduled for 8:45 P.M., however, hours before Scott came on stage panic began. Fans began pushing and rushing to the front of the stage to be as close to Scott himself. Pushing and rushing eventually turned into hundreds of fans being trampled over by others trying to make it to the front. Initially, 6 people were pronounced dead after the show. As days went by, not everyone made it out of the hospital. This tragedy at Astrofest left 10 people between the ages of 9-27 deceased.
Those who attended this music festival claimed there were no security measures being taken. No bag checks, or vaccine checks. The area was also extremely overcrowded causing fans to pass out due to not getting enough oxygen. There were more people passing out than there were emergency medical technicians available for help. This was one of the many factors that led to so many deaths.
Following these tragic events, Scott received a lot of backlash from the media. Followers and fans turned his apology video into a viral meme on different platforms. Nike, which Scott has collaborated with in the past has also pushed back the release of a new Travis Scott x Nike Dunk Low. Hulu contributed by releasing a documentary days after the Astrofest tragedy labeled, “Astroworld: Concert From Hell”, discussing the events and what led to the deaths. However, the documentary has now been taken down after negative feedback from its viewers and the media as well.
Recently Scott finally broke silenced and talked about Astrofest in an interview with radio host, Charlamagne Tha God. He stated that he was not aware of what was going on in the crowd. Viewers did not take this lightly, especially after seeing multiple videos on social media from the audience’s perspective; ambulances in the crowd, people yelling for help, how was Scott not aware of the situation?
Scott offered free virtual therapy sessions for one month to those who were affected. He also offered direct help to the families of those who lost their loved ones due to Astrofest. Even so, families still rejected the help.
As of now, Scott has over 200 lawsuits claiming negligence and encouragement of violence.
Source: The New York Times // Annie Mulligan 2021
Written by staff writer: Marlene Orozco-Vazquez