On November 5th, 2021, ten people were killed by compression asphyxia during Travis Scott’s Astroworld music festival in Houston, Texas. The massive crowd was packed so tightly that many people couldn’t breathe or move. The youngest victim was nine-year-old Ezra Blout, and the others who died were between ages 14 and 27. More than 300 people were injured and treated at the music festival and 25 were taken to hospitals.
From the afternoon, there were reports from concertgoers of breaches at security entrances. The arena was already packed, and even before Travis Scott performed, fans started jumping over barriers to escape the crowds. This should have been a sign to security that the situation was becoming dangerous. There were also reports that security wasn’t checking vaccine cards or concert tickets and letting anyone in.
During the first 15 minutes of the concert, several people reported that they began having trouble breathing, and during the first 30 minutes, an ambulance began moving through the crowd. There is even disturbing video footage of concertgoers dancing on top of ambulances. By 9:38pm (Scott had started performing at 9pm), Houston Police declared a mass casualty incident, and a number of people had collapsed. Although the promoters agreed to end the concert early in the interest of public safety, the show continued and Scott kept performing. It was explained that promoters thought it was safer to continue the show than to stop and risk a riot.
Travis Scott has already faced legal issues as a result of him “amping the crowd up” a little too much. In 2017 in New York, he had encouraged a man to jump from a concert venue balcony, and another man was pushed off and partially paralyzed. After the tickets to his Astroworld festival sold out, he tweeted, “we still sneaking the wild ones in.” This was later deleted. There is also footage of Scott spitting on one of his fans and yelling “get that motherf*cker, f*ck him up” at a concertgoer who tried to take Scott’s shoe while he was crowd surfing.
Since the incident, over 300 lawsuits have been filed over injuries and deaths at the concert, which was devastating to many. Scott’s attorney reached out and offered to pay for the funeral costs of the 10 people who died, but several families turned him down.
One attorney, Thomas J. Henry filed a $2 billion lawsuit against Travis Scott, Apple Music, Live Nation, NRG Stadium, and guest performer Drake on behalf of 300 injured victims. The injuries people sustained after the Astroworld crowd surge ranged from heart attacks, to brain injuries, to broken bones, and excessive bruising and bleeding. They are also traumatized because they had to step over dead and bloody bodies, trying but failing to find a way to exit the concert. Two security guards also filed a lawsuit, stating that there were no background checks, training, or instruction given prior to the guards starting their shifts. There were also other lawsuits, with the highest being for $10 billion.
Travis Scott has been removed from the 2022 Coachella lineup, and as of right now, we are not sure when or if he will perform again.