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The aftermath of Friday’s mass casualty event at Travis Scott’s third annual and likely final Astroworld festival in Houston, TX continued throughout the weekend which included two lawsuits filed against Scott among various others.
According to Billboard, Manuel Souza is suing Travis Scott, concert giant Live Nation, and Texas-based organizers Scoremore for negligence and gross negligence for failing to “properly plan and conduct the concert in a safe manner,” calling their agenda “a motivation for profit at the expense of concertgoers’ health and safety."
Souza and his legal counsel Steve Kherkher are seeking at least $1 million in damages and a temporary restraining order to prevent destruction of evidence and could be heard in court as soon as today. As of yesterday, Scott, Scoremore, and/or Live Nation have yet to respond for comment. The suit also names Cactus Jack Records, LLC, and other individuals and companies involved in the event.
A person named Kristian Paredes is also suing Scott, Drake and Live Nation for negligence, focusing on Scott’s history of rowdy concerts she says should have incentivized extra preparation and security and claims Scott and Drake, who appeared as a guest for a surprise performance of “Sicko Mode” helped incite the violence and should have been aware of the crowd’s reaction.
As of Sunday afternoon, six of the victims have been identified by either their families or the schools they attended:
John Hilgert, a 14-year-old freshman at Memorial High School in Houston;
Brianna Rodriguez, a 16-year-old junior at Heights High School in Houston;
Franco Patino, a 21-year-old student at the University of Dayton from Naperville;
Danish Baig, a 27-year-old who was crushed to death while trying to save a relative;
Axel Acosta, a 21-year-old student from Western Washington State who was identified later yesterday.
Rudy Pena, 23 years old;
As of yesterday morning, 13 people of the remaining 17 transported to local hospitals remain hospitalized (five who are under the age of 18), while four have been discharged.
In the days since their deaths and reports from the “scores” of others injured and many who witnessed the traumatic events, media coverage has been constant in an effort to verify the causation of Saturday’s catastrophe.
Houston Police Chief Troy Finner pointed to a lack of hired bodies insufficient to handle a crowd of more than 50,000 in a telephone conversation with Variety and expressed his defense that an abrupt halt could have caused a riot.”
The characteristically astute NY Times have revealed more granular details through two emergency plan documents and testimony from many employees and those verified in attendance. The documents warned of “the potential for multiple alcohol/drug-related incidents, possible evacuation needs, and the ever-present threat of a mass casualty situation are identified as key concerns.” Event Control were to be notified of any deceased with the code “SMURF” over radio units.
An NRG Park employee said that when he arrived for work at 3 AM, more than 1000 people were already waiting for the 10:00 AM opening of the gates. The first influx of crowd members needing attention happened around 3:30 PM; by 8:15 PM, staff were unable to document patients from overwhelming demand and an undersupply of naloxone, which reverses the effects of opioid overdoses. They eventually ran out of drug early in the night. Many had not been conscious for more than 20 minutes prior to reaching the field hospital. One patient who went into cardiac rest waited 10 minutes for an ambulance after emergency services struggled through the dense crowd.
According to officials, the venue cleared under an hour without incident after the show ended at 10:15 PM.
The festival which cancelled its second day released a statement expressing sorrow, with notably no apology. Both Travis and his girlfriend in attendance Kylie Jenner released statements to their Instagram Stories to middling avail. Travis Scott has cancelled his performance at the Day N Vegas Festival on November 13 with sources saying he’s “too distraught to play.” There is no announcement yet regarding the finality of his headlining slot booked for the return of Coachella this April.
Scott expressed his ignorance of the situation’s severity mid-performance and sources tell Variety that he will provide full refunds for all purchasers of tickets, a minimum $380 each.
Scott’s long history of inciting his fans to commit reckless acts at his concerts has put the rapper under intense scrutiny over the past two days. In July 2015, while performing in Switzerland, Scott encouraged the crowd to attack a fan who allegedly tried to steal one of his shoes while crowd-surfing.
Just a month later at Lollapalooza 2015, Scott was charged with disorderly conduct for ordering fans to climb over barricades. Authorities attempted to detain Scott, causing him to flee and eventually plead guilty to reckless conduct.
In 2017, Scott’s concert at Terminal 5 in New York City included calls to jump from the balcony, allegedly leading to 23-year-old Kyle Green being pushed and suffering a fractured vertebrae. He filed a lawsuit against Scott and is now partially paralyzed.
The reaction of the live entertainment sphere has been immediate, albeit underwhelming.
Astroworld performer Roddy Ricch promised on his Instagram Story to donate his net compensation to the families affected and asked them to reach out to Shawn Holiday, a representative from his management team.
Scott’s mentor, Kanye West dedicated his Sunday Service to lost lives at Travis Scott’s Astroworld Fest.
Comedian Katt Williams perhaps trumped them all when he paused his routine for ten minutes on Saturday night at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville after he found out that one of his audience members had passed out.
Video recovered shows him explaining, “I’m sorry if I won’t move on but that shit that happened at, yeah, that Astroworld shit, that mean we can’t never continue until we know somebody mothafucking good,”
and
“I'm not goin' to be leaving with that on my conscious ... just take five minutes ... thank you, sir ... I hope she's just having a baby. That's all."
Coverage on Astroworld will likely continue throughout the day, week, and month as legal battles ensue, toxicology reports await, and the live sector considers how it will realign its standard to better serve the safety of its audience.
The aftermath of Friday’s mass casualty event at Travis Scott’s third annual and likely final Astroworld festival in Houston, TX continued throughout the weekend which included two lawsuits filed against Scott among various others.
According to Billboard, Manuel Souza is suing Travis Scott, concert giant Live Nation, and Texas-based organizers Scoremore for negligence and gross negligence for failing to “properly plan and conduct the concert in a safe manner,” calling their agenda “a motivation for profit at the expense of concertgoers’ health and safety."
Souza and his legal counsel Steve Kherkher are seeking at least $1 million in damages and a temporary restraining order to prevent destruction of evidence and could be heard in court as soon as today. As of yesterday, Scott, Scoremore, and/or Live Nation have yet to respond for comment. The suit also names Cactus Jack Records, LLC, and other individuals and companies involved in the event.
A person named Kristian Paredes is also suing Scott, Drake and Live Nation for negligence, focusing on Scott’s history of rowdy concerts she says should have incentivized extra preparation and security and claims Scott and Drake, who appeared as a guest for a surprise performance of “Sicko Mode” helped incite the violence and should have been aware of the crowd’s reaction.
As of Sunday afternoon, six of the victims have been identified by either their families or the schools they attended:
John Hilgert, a 14-year-old freshman at Memorial High School in Houston;
Brianna Rodriguez, a 16-year-old junior at Heights High School in Houston;
Franco Patino, a 21-year-old student at the University of Dayton from Naperville;
Danish Baig, a 27-year-old who was crushed to death while trying to save a relative;
Axel Acosta, a 21-year-old student from Western Washington State who was identified later yesterday.
Rudy Pena, 23 years old;
As of yesterday morning, 13 people of the remaining 17 transported to local hospitals remain hospitalized (five who are under the age of 18), while four have been discharged.
In the days since their deaths and reports from the “scores” of others injured and many who witnessed the traumatic events, media coverage has been constant in an effort to verify the causation of Saturday’s catastrophe.
Houston Police Chief Troy Finner pointed to a lack of hired bodies insufficient to handle a crowd of more than 50,000 in a telephone conversation with Variety and expressed his defense that an abrupt halt could have caused a riot.”
The characteristically astute NY Times have revealed more granular details through two emergency plan documents and testimony from many employees and those verified in attendance. The documents warned of “the potential for multiple alcohol/drug-related incidents, possible evacuation needs, and the ever-present threat of a mass casualty situation are identified as key concerns.” Event Control were to be notified of any deceased with the code “SMURF” over radio units.
An NRG Park employee said that when he arrived for work at 3 AM, more than 1000 people were already waiting for the 10:00 AM opening of the gates. The first influx of crowd members needing attention happened around 3:30 PM; by 8:15 PM, staff were unable to document patients from overwhelming demand and an undersupply of naloxone, which reverses the effects of opioid overdoses. They eventually ran out of drug early in the night. Many had not been conscious for more than 20 minutes prior to reaching the field hospital. One patient who went into cardiac rest waited 10 minutes for an ambulance after emergency services struggled through the dense crowd.
According to officials, the venue cleared under an hour without incident after the show ended at 10:15 PM.
The festival which cancelled its second day released a statement expressing sorrow, with notably no apology. Both Travis and his girlfriend in attendance Kylie Jenner released statements to their Instagram Stories to middling avail. Travis Scott has cancelled his performance at the Day N Vegas Festival on November 13 with sources saying he’s “too distraught to play.” There is no announcement yet regarding the finality of his headlining slot booked for the return of Coachella this April.
Scott expressed his ignorance of the situation’s severity mid-performance and sources tell Variety that he will provide full refunds for all purchasers of tickets, a minimum $380 each.
Scott’s long history of inciting his fans to commit reckless acts at his concerts has put the rapper under intense scrutiny over the past two days. In July 2015, while performing in Switzerland, Scott encouraged the crowd to attack a fan who allegedly tried to steal one of his shoes while crowd-surfing.
Just a month later at Lollapalooza 2015, Scott was charged with disorderly conduct for ordering fans to climb over barricades. Authorities attempted to detain Scott, causing him to flee and eventually plead guilty to reckless conduct.
In 2017, Scott’s concert at Terminal 5 in New York City included calls to jump from the balcony, allegedly leading to 23-year-old Kyle Green being pushed and suffering a fractured vertebrae. He filed a lawsuit against Scott and is now partially paralyzed.
The reaction of the live entertainment sphere has been immediate, albeit underwhelming.
Astroworld performer Roddy Ricch promised on his Instagram Story to donate his net compensation to the families affected and asked them to reach out to Shawn Holiday, a representative from his management team.
Scott’s mentor, Kanye West dedicated his Sunday Service to lost lives at Travis Scott’s Astroworld Fest.
Comedian Katt Williams perhaps trumped them all when he paused his routine for ten minutes on Saturday night at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville after he found out that one of his audience members had passed out.
Video recovered shows him explaining, “I’m sorry if I won’t move on but that shit that happened at, yeah, that Astroworld shit, that mean we can’t never continue until we know somebody mothafucking good,”
and
“I'm not goin' to be leaving with that on my conscious ... just take five minutes ... thank you, sir ... I hope she's just having a baby. That's all."
Coverage on Astroworld will likely continue throughout the day, week, and month as legal battles ensue, toxicology reports await, and the live sector considers how it will realign its standard to better serve the safety of its audience.
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