Let’s take a break from defending multi-millionaire celebrities for a while. 

Astroworld, Travis Scott’s festival in Houston, left hundreds of attendees injured and eight families grieving the death of their loved ones. Some of the deceased were as young as 14, with the eldest being 27 years old.

Those attending the concert on Nov. 5 recalled people squeezing towards the stage, and once Scott got on stage, they were being crushed. There was one wave when Scott entered, and as people fell, the crowd only continued pushing. Attendees saw fans passing out and screaming in pain.

This has sparked backlash against Scott and the Astroworld event. At least three lawsuits have been filed against the artist already.

Many people are questioning why the artist didn’t stop the show when people started to collapse. In fact, there is now a trend on TikTok showing artists that have stopped their shows in order to get the crowd under control. For example, Adele and Niall Horan have both called out to crowds to back up and get attention to someone who has passed out.

It appears that there was a complete disregard for security at the event. A video surfaced of fans rushing the gates and toward the stage, bypassing security. There are a lot of unanswered questions about how this happened.

It seems that there was a lack of concern for the safety of the event as well. Large music festivals like Lollapalooza and Coachella have never seen the tragedy that occurred Friday night. What is even more troubling is that Scott has gotten in trouble for riling up crowds in the past. In 2018, Scott pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct for urging fans to bypass security and jump fences. He also pleaded guilty in 2015 for a similar incident.

In a now deleted tweet, Scott, showing no improvement from his previous charge, said that he would still sneak the “wild ones” in the venue. 

There is a definite neglect for safety in Scott’s eyes, but there also seems to be a rush of excitement for him when there are fewer safety measures. 

Unfortunately, due to Scott’s appeal to younger audiences, two people under the age of 18 are dead. Experts have concluded that the events that occurred Friday night were entirely preventable, and I agree. 

Scott, at one point during the concert, was on an elevated platform where he should have been able to see the ambulances coming through the crowd, but he just kept going. There are videos of fans climbing up the ladders to camera crews filming the concert telling them someone was dead, but the crews just shooed them off.

Scott made a statement after the tragedy, saying that he would stop the concert to make sure those who needed help got it. Many people were treated in the field for injuries, 25 were rushed to the hospital, and 13 of them are still there. It is troubling that the concert wasn’t stopped altogether, and that the crowd couldn’t be controlled at all.

It seems that Scott and the members of his team had no concern for what was going on in that crowd. As more videos surface of other artists stopping their performances on stage to help just one person in the crowd, Scott looks more liable for the tragedy that occurred. It would be hard not to notice eight people dead and 13 critically injured in a crowd, given the number of ambulances arriving. In response to this, Scott announced the cancellation of the Saturday event of his festival, and that he would be working with police. 

However, that won’t bring back the lives that were lost due to negligence and his encouragement to ignore safety measures.