In a video posted to his Instagram account late Saturday, Travis Scott spoke out regarding the deadly crowd crush at the Astroworld Festival in Houston.
“You know, my fans…really mean the world to me,” he said. “I always just really want to leave them with a positive experience.” Scott seems distraught, rubbing his forehead and pausing throughout the video.
He then goes on to say, “Any time I can make out…anything that’s going on, you know, I stop the show and…help them get the help they need.”
The rapper has been criticized, however, for not stopping the show. Although a video from the event shows him pausing when he spots an ambulance making its way through the crowd, he continues performing just moments later. In fact, he kept performing for more than 40 minutes after Houston police had declared it a “mass casualty event.”
According to Houston Police Chief Troy Finner, a mass casualty situation was declared at about 9:30 p.m., with first responders on the scene just a couple of minutes later. According to Finner, “Our people stepped up and immediately went to the producers and told them, ‘Hey, people are going down.’”
Travis Scott performed until about 10:10 p.m.
Finner went on to say that shutting down an event that large was no easy task. “We have to worry about riots when you have a group that’s that young,” he said.
The question now is whether Scott was notified, what he could see from the stage, and what could have been done — not only by Scott, but by security personnel and producers, to stop the show earlier. Several videos show fans trying to get help from security personnel and even cameramen to no avail. One video shows a young woman and a young man climbing a tower where a cameraman is filming. They ask for help, but they are ignored.
In another video, you can hear people chanting, “Stop the show.” But it just goes on.
people in the #ASTROWORLDFest crowd were chanting “stop the show” but Travis & security kept it going pic.twitter.com/J6JVgQ1yST
— ° (@babaisthename) November 6, 2021
What’s more, Travis Scott has a troubling history of inciting violence and hyping up crowds at his concerts.
“I’m honestly just devastated,” he says in his Instagram video. “We’re actually working right now to identify the families so we can help assist them through this tough time.”
Dozens of people have already come forward with lawsuits against Scott, Live Nation, and other parties for their role in failing to properly organize and manage the event, which could have prevented the deadly crowd crush. Concert injuries and crowd surges are not a new problem. Venues, organizers, and performers should be implementing measures to protect fans from the deadly consequences of overcrowding and poor crowd management, particularly in general admission and festival seating areas.
Arnold & Itkin's Astroworld lawsuit attorneys are currently representing nearly 100 people who were injured or lost loved ones in the concert crush. We will push for the answers our clients deserve from all at-fault parties. No matter what.