Travis Scott has canceled his upcoming festival appearance amid the Astroworld tragedy attended by Keeping Up With the Kardashians Kylie Jenner. The rapper has been under fire after an estimated eight people died and many others were left injured during what authorities are referring to as a 'mass casualty event.' With Travis continuing his performance while the melee ensued in the crowd, many have placed blame on the hitmaker saying he reportedly ignored the visible disarray taking place right in front of his face. He had another festival scheduled this coming weekend, but Travis has decided to back out as he gets hit with an onslaught of lawsuits.
Eight people ranging from ages 14 to 27 lost their lives while attending the first night of what was supposed to be Travis's two-day festival. The event was held at Houston's NRG Park and supposedly had about 50,000 in attendance. Just after 9 p.m. local time on Nov. 5, the crowd reportedly "began to compress towards the front of the stage", authorities said. A panic ensued and people reportedly began to pass out and require medical attention. But with Travis promoting a "rager" environment at his shows, when the ambulances and EMT workers tried to work their way through the hyper crowd, concertgoers were seen jumping on top of the emergency vehicles. Videos show Travis and Drake continuing their performance while ambulances were seen making their way through the packed park. Day two of the festival was canceled.
Travis was also scheduled to perform a headlining set at the Day N Vegas festival scheduled for this upcoming weekend, but the Houston native has decided to back out, E! News reports. Travis has sent out condolences to the victims and released a statement following the turmoil. "I'm absolutely devastated by what took place last night," Travis wrote on Twitter. "My prayers go out to the families and all those impacted by what happened at Astroworld Festival." But the lawsuits have already started rolling in. One suit was filed two days after the concert and names Travis (born Jacques Bermon Webster), Drake (born Aubrey Drake Graham), Live Nation and NRG Stadium as defendants, OK Magazine reports.
One suit against Travis was filed on behalf of 23-year-old Kristian Paredes who is seeking over $1 million in damages after he was left injured after the rapper allegedly "incited the crowd." The lawsuit calls the festival a "tragedy" with attorney Thomas J. Henry saying the concertgoers "deserved a safe environment in which to have fun and enjoy the evening. Instead, their night was one of fear, injury, and death." Another suit was filed by Manuel Souza just one day after the incident. The suit accuses the "owners, operators, promoters, public relations representatives, and/or organizers of the concert and/or owners owner and operators of the premises" of "conscious disregard of the extreme risk of harm to concertgoers that had been escalating since hours earlier."
Souza's suit blasts Travis and claims that the rapper "recklessly encouraged fans to breach the barriers and otherwise actively encouraged a culture of violence." Videos showed swarms of fans breaking through a fence and storming into the park with no confirmation on if they had tickets or not. During the wild incident, the video showed some attendees being stampeded over after falling to the ground. These are just two of what many believe will be many more impending lawsuits from the victims who lost their lives or were left injured during the melee. Kylie Jenner has also been called out for posting videos on the night of the show that shows ambulances trying to work their way through the crowd. The Keeping Up With the Kardashians alum is dealing with the devastation alongside Travis while carrying their second child.
Source: E! News, Travis Scott/Twitter, OK Magazine