Tragedy at The Astroworld Concert

Rapper Travis Scott held his “Astroworld” concert in Houston, Texas, on November 5th.  However, the event turned tragic after the audience of 50,000 surged forward in a packed venue, causing hundreds of injuries and a total death count of 10 after concertgoers were suffocated or trampled. 

The victims include Franco Patino, 21, John Hilgert,14, a freshman at Memorial High School, Brianna Rodriguez, 16, Rudy Pena, 23, Danish Baig, 27, Jacob E. Jurinek, 20, Axel Acosta, 21, Madison Dubiski, 23, Bharti Shahani, 22, and Ezra Blount, 9. Shahani and Blount succumbed to injuries sustained at the concert in the days following the event. 

Since the concert took place, Travis has been subjected to ample backlash as people on social media blame him for the deaths and injuries at the event. These individuals claim that Travis had a clear view of what was occurring in the audience and had also would have noticed the ambulances which pulled up during the concert; he should have used his authority to stop the concert. Some believe that Travis may have been able to hear the cries for help from audience members. Others maintain that the tragedy was a horrible accident with no one individual at fault. 

Travis Scott himself made an apology video where he explained his dismay regarding the situation and his attempt to financially aid the victims' families stating, “we are actually working right now to identify the families so we can help assist them during this tough time.” Travis continues to receive more backlash despite his apology video. The question of “Does Travis Scott really care?” has caused a joke to rise on TikTok, a popular social media platform, where users use clips of the rapper sighing in the apology video to mock his attitude towards the incident. Travis is also facing several lawsuits as a result of the concert. This is not the first time that Travis has been involved in lawsuits for concert-related injuries, but this time he was not alone in the act. Due to the multiple lawsuits placed on Travis Scott there has appeared to be one placed on another rapper named Drake. Even though Drake had not been performing alongside Travis Scott he had been said to have, “helped incite the crowd”, by a man who goes by the name of Kristian Paredes who claimed to be severely injured after the concert. Kristian is demanding one million dollars so that he could pay off his medical fees.

Due to this concert many are fearful that Scott’s career may be “canceled” as a result of backlash despite the fact that he is not currently being held criminally liable for the tragedy.