Dear Celebrties, please do better.
On the weekend of November 5th and 6th, the Astroworld Festival took place in Houston, Texas. This festival included a huge lineup of artists such as SZA, Lil Baby, Roddy Ricch, and many others. But the most awaited performer of the night was Travis Scott. His set was on Friday, November 5th, and it was the most anticipated set of the night, given that it was his festival. As we all know, this night took a tragic turn which resulted in 10 casualties and many more injured.
After the tragic events of the show, Travis released an “apology” on his Instagram story. It consists of a sequence of videos with a black and white filter, in which he does everything but apologize. He begins the video by sending his thoughts and prayers to the ones injured during his concert and saying that he is working closely with the authorities to figure out what went wrong. He goes on to say that his fans mean the world to him and that he would do anything for them (anything except stop a show, apparently). Lastly, he finishes off by promising to give fans updates on the situation.
Among the many things wrong with this apology, there is the fact that Travis never explicitly says that he is sorry, taking no accountability whatsoever. He lets us know that’s he’s in shock and in disbelief and that he can never imagine the severity of the situation. This statement sounds extremely tone-deaf considering that the situation does not have to be imagined: it actually happened. He regards the incident as something to get to the bottom of when in reality, it could have been prevented by something as simple as stopping the show.
“Put your middle fingers up in the air if you’re okay.”
During the entirety of the set, Travis briefly stopped the show twice. First, when he saw an ambulance in the crowd, and when he saw someone passed out and told security to get in there. The first time he stopped the show, he followed it up by telling his fans to put their middle fingers up in the air if they were okay. And the second time, he waited for security to help the unconscious fan while he ad-libbed to his song. These brief pauses were the most Travis did to show concern over his fans and they were essentially useless because soon after, he continued the show as if nothing was wrong.
Watching the show back while knowing the tragedy that occurred that night is extremely heartbreaking. It was without a doubt preventable, and Travis Scott’s apology did nothing to help the situation. His behavior during and after the show is inexcusable. He deserves to be held accountable for his actions, beginning with a proper apology to his fans and everyone involved. This tragedy should serve as a wake-up call to any artist or celebrity out there: your career is not more important than someone’s life.