Astroworld

Travis Scott And Live Nation Reveal Their Head Attorneys As They Prepare For Astroworld Cases

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The Houston Chronicle reports Live Nation and Travis Scott, under fire for the recent disaster at the Astroworld Festival last month, have made a prominent hire as they prepare to defend themselves from a deluge of cases from injured attendees and the families of the 10 people who died as a result of the crowd crush at Astroworld.

Scott has tapped global corporate law firm O’Melveny & Myers’ head of litigation Daniel Petrocelli, who is best known for representing Fred Goldman in the 1997 trial against OJ Simpson for the wrongful deaths of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. OJ was found liable in that case, despite being previously acquitted for the murders in a criminal trial.

It was Petrocelli who reached out to the families of victims who died at the festival with the offer to cover funeral costs; however, half the families, including that of 9-year-old Ezra Blount, rejected the offer, writing in response, “[Scott] must face and hopefully see that he bears some of the responsibility for this tragedy. There may be, and I hope there is, redemption and growth for him on the other side of what this painful process will be – and perhaps one day, once time allows some healing for the victims and acceptance of responsibility by Mr. Scott and others, Treston and Mr. Scott might meet – as there is also healing in that.”

Meanwhile, Live Nation’s head defender will be the Susman Godfrey law firm, prompting the lawyer representing about 75 victims to say, “For Live Nation to hire the Susman firm shows that the company knows it is in deep trouble and is preparing for a bet-the-company litigation fight.”

According to the Chronicle, more than 120 lawsuits have been filed by about 600 plaintiffs seeking damages totaling over $3 billion. The cases may be consolidated in order to manage the caseload.

Megan Thee Stallion Cancels Her Houston Show ‘Out Of Respect’ To The Astroworld Victims

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Tragedy struck during Travis Scott’s set at his Astroworld festival earlier this month. A massive crowd surge suffocated attendees, leaving countless injuries and ten dead, including a 9-year-old. The friends and families of victims are still coping with the aftermath and Scott has been sued by many festivalgoers. As a result of the tragedy, Megan Thee Stallion has decided to cancel a show she was set to play in Houston later this week.

The rapper is currently on tour in support of her recent music. She even surprised fans at a BTS show over the weekend to perform her remix of their No. 1 track “Butter.” While she was previously set to return to her home state of Texas to play a show in Houston, the rapper has decided to forgo the show “out of respect” to the Astroworld victims.

In a statement given to the Houston Chronicle, Megan explained her decision to cancel the performance:

“Out of respect for the lives lost in Houston earlier this month, I have decided to cancel my show at 713 Music Hall on Dec 3. Houston is still healing and it’s important that our community be given the appropriate time to grieve. My heart goes out to all the families that are suffering during this difficult time.”

Read the Houston Chronicle‘s full report here.

Megan Thee Stallion is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Family Of The 9-Year-Old Astroworld Victim Rejected Travis Scott’s Offer To Cover Funeral Costs

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The tragedy that was this year’s Astroworld festival left a number of attendees dead, and the youngest of which is a nine-year-old boy. Though Travis Scott has been deeply apologetic about his deadly event, and even offered to help cover funeral costs for those who lost loved ones at the festival, some families of victims aren’t interested in his money.

The lawsuits against Travis and the festival organizers are still coming in, though, including one filed by Treston Blount, the father of Ezra Blount, the nine-year-old who was trampled to death during the festival. Ezra was laid to rest last without any help from Scott, though Scott’s lawyers said the rapper’s offer to cover expenses would have no impact on the lawsuit.

“Your client’s offer is declined,” Blount family attorney Bob Hilliard said in a response obtained by Rolling Stone. “I have no doubt Mr. Scott feels remorse. His journey ahead will be painful. He must face and hopefully see that he bears some of the responsibility for this tragedy. There may be, and I hope there is, redemption and growth for him on the other side of what this painful process will be — and perhaps one day, once time allows some healing for the victims and acceptance of responsibility by Mr. Scott and others, Treston and Mr. Scott might meet, as there is also healing in that.”

Ezra was on his dad Treston’s shoulders during the festival, until the two were trapped in a crowd surge and Treston passed out. Ezra was later found in a coma at a nearby hospital, but ultimately succumbed to his injuries.

A 14-Year-Old Astroworld Victim’s Family Sues Travis Scott And Live Nation

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The latest reported Astroworld lawsuit comes from the family of a 14-year-old high school freshman who was killed at the festival along with nine others including a nine-year-old boy and a man who died trying to pull his fiancee out of the surging crowd. According to People, the family of John Hilgert seeks $1 million in damages while condemning the “gross negligence” of the festival’s organizers and promoters, including Live Nation and Scoremore.

“Defendants egregiously failed in their duty to protect the health, safety, and lives of those in attendance at the concert,” the lawsuit reads, “including but not limited to the failure to provide adequate security personnel to implement crowd control measures, proper barricades, and the failure to provide a sufficient amount of emergency medical support.”

A press release from Chris and Nichole Hilgert, the 14-year-old’s parents, asserts that the couple wants to reform concert presentation, with changes including assigned seating in general admission areas and increases in security and medical personnel on-site. “This pain should never be felt by anyone over a loved one attending a live concert,” Chris said in the statement. “Our sole aim in filing this lawsuit is to prevent this type of tragedy from ever happening again at a live concert. There is no excuse for the poor crowd design, event execution, and lack of response that was exercised at this festival that resulted in the tragic death of our son and nine others along with scores of other people that were innocently injured.”

Two Astroworld Security Guards Have Sued Travis Scott After Witnessing Festival Deaths

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As Travis Scott and Live Nation continue to get bombarded with lawsuits stemming from the deaths at Astroworld Festival, one of the latest comes from some of the staff who actually worked the festival, rather than attendees or their families. According to TMZ, two of the fest’s security guards, Samuel and Jackson Bush, are suing the festival’s organizers, as well as security contractors AJ Melino and Associates, for $1 million in damages after being traumatized by personally witnessing some of the deaths that took place as a result of the crowd crush and inadequately equipped facilities.

Both men not only claim mental distress from watching CPR performed on unconscious people and personally pulling someone from the crowd who later died, but also physical injuries suffered while trying to help control the chaos of the event.

Despite the seemingly large ask of $1 million, the Bushes’ lawsuit is actually at the low end of the Astroworld fallout spectrum, with one of the over 20 lawsuits demanding $750 million in damages for over 125 Astroworld attendees. Another lawsuit filed by the family of a nine-year-old boy who was trampled in the crowd (and later died) also seeks $1 million.

The fallout from the Astroworld disaster has also begun to affect other events; the organizers of Rolling Loud have implemented an age limit policy on their upcoming event in California, perhaps hoping to mitigate the liability in the case of another crowd control failure.

Rolling Loud Implements A New 18+ Policy In Response To The Astroworld Festival Disaster

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After the 10 deaths at Astroworld Festival this year, it was clear to many observers that music festivals as a whole would experience some big shakeups in response. While fests like Day N Vegas and Head In The Clouds were able to continue as (mostly) normal, it looks like the first of those expected big changes has arrived ahead of the touring hip-hop festival Rolling Loud’s latest LA edition.

Posting an update to social media, the Rolling Loud organizers advised the festival’s new safety precaution for the upcoming event: An age limit. The new policy limits attendees to 18 years of age and up in an effort to prevent a possible repeat of Astroworld’s crush, in which a nine-year-old boy suffered injuries that eventually led to his death a few days later.

We welcome everyone to experience our festivals, however, in light of recent events, we will be implementing AN 18+ policy specific only to our upcoming 2021 California festival. We will be giving all ticket purchasers who are under the age of 18 the option to either roll their tickets over to next year’s 2022 California festival or receive a refund.

Refund or rollover requests must be made through the original purchaser’s front gate account during the period beginning November 23RD at 9 AM PST and ending November 26TH at 12 PM PST. Additional information will be made available on our FAQs at rollingloud.com/help.

For now, it appears the change is temporary, but considering the fallout from Astroworld still has yet to completely settle, it’s possible we could see this change and similar ones become permanent for the foreseeable future. Rolling Loud is scheduled for December 10-12 at the National Orange Show Event Center in San Bernardino.

Travis Scott And Live Nation Are Being Sued By The Family Of A Man Who Died Saving His Fiancee At Astroworld

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Another new lawsuit against Travis Scott and Live Nation has emerged in the wake of the tragedy at this year’s Astroworld Festival, this one brought by the family of a man who allegedly died while trying to get his fiancee to safety during the sudden crowd surge during Travis’ closing set on the first night of the festival.

According to The Houston Chronicle, the parents of 27-year-old Mirza Danish Baig tapped Dallas-based law firm, Lyons & Simmons, to sue the festival’s organizers for upwards of $1 million, alleging that Baig was one of the eight people killed at the festival (10 have died in total after another pair of attendees succumbed to injuries sustained during the rush) as he tried to lead his fiance Olivia away from the crushing crowd. However, the two were separated, and he later died from injuries after being trampled by the crowd. Olivia and Baig’s brother Basil were also injured.

According to Simmons, “Each of the responsible parties pushed boundaries of common sense and turned their heads to the dangers, simply for profit. And when it was obvious they had lost complete control of the situation, instead of stopping the show, they made the decision to continue. That disregard resulted in one of the worst mass-casualty events at a concert in history. It’s a total disgrace.”

Scott has been named in over 20 lawsuits — a number that continues to grow — for his role in the crowd surge that caused dozens of people to be crushed, suffocated, or trampled. Ahead of the concert, Travis tweeted encouraging fans to “sneak in,” and previous to it, incidents in which attendees at his other concerts were injured were also attributed to his goading. While Travis has his share of supporters, including Chuck D, who wrote an open letter condemning Travis’ partners in the festival, Live Nation and ScoreMore, with lawsuits ranging all the way up to $750 million have ensured that Astroworld is becoming costlier by the day.

Chuck D Writes An Open Letter Defending Travis Scott And Blaming Live Nation For The Astroworld Tragedy

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In the wake of the Astroworld Festival accident which left more than 300 people injured and at least ten dead so far, the face of the festival, Travis Scott, has become the target of most of the criticism for the fest’s ill-preparedness and received a slew of lawsuits from those affected, ranging from the reasonable to the utterly frivolous.

However, the Houston rapper has at least one supporter in his corner: Public Enemy founder and hip-hop pioneer Chuck D, who writes in an open letter published today in Rolling Stone that the blame should rest squarely on the event’s promoter Live Nation (which has since launched a fund for injured festival attendees). “I’m tired of these corporations shucking their most crucial responsibility,” he writes, These folks simply say Rest in Peace and move on. This negligence can’t continue. Folks want answers. I’m not buying the Young Black Man did it.”

Instead, he calls on Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino and Live Nation partner ScoreMore to not only accept responsibility for the disaster at the recent concert but also for hooking up with Travis in the first place, despite his history of inciting irresponsible behavior at his shows. In Chuck’s view, “Concert promoters have all the power to make the changes to keep everyone safe and alive.” And you have to admit… he has a point.

You can read the full letter below.

I cannot believe we’re at the point where !gotta say this out loud: Travis Scott is a performer, an act, not a concert promoter. He doesn’t run the sound or venues or festivals or their staff. He doesn’t build stages or coordinate logistics, he’s not an expert in crowd control or security or emergency medical services. But he does trust Live Nation and all the other concert promoters who are supposed to do all of this. And yet here we are, 10 deaths and counting. 10 broken families.

The world is mourning.

I’m tired of these corporations shucking their most crucial responsibility. These folks simply say Rest In Peace and move on. This negligence can’t continue. Folks want answers. I’m not buying “the young Black Man did it.” He’s being blamed for a crime while the old white men running the corps that Travis and his fans trusted with their lives stay quiet in the shadows, counting their money and watching their stock prices go up and up. The excuse of Scott’s irresponsible actions don’t wash – if his act had a history of that behavior why promote him to bigger venues, why partner with him in the first place and let him headline a bigger audience? Live Nation controlled this show. They control almost all of the concert venues. Artists ain’t speaking out because these same cats are already bought by these corporations. No one can say a word against them unless they want to be Blacklisted and hurt their careers.

So I am calling on Michael Rapino’s entire team at Live Nation and a consortium of all the major concert promoters out there to do the right thing. To step up and step out of the shadows to fix these situations and save lives. To stop letting one Young Black Man take the blame, the hate, the fall. We don’t know everything that happened or exactly what failed. But concert promoters have all the power to make the changes to keep everyone safe and alive.

Live Nation, your stock is up. The White Corporate Music Biz keeps cashing in on Black Pain, Trauma, and Death. This has to stop yesterday. You’re part of the problem. Grow the f*ck up, fix this and let us all LIVE in PEACE.

A 9-Year-Old Boy Who Was Trampled At Astroworld Has Died

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It was reported last week that Travis Scott and other co-defendants connected to the Astroworld tragedy were being sued by the family of a 9-year-old boy who was trampled at the festival. At the time, the lawsuit indicated that the boy, Ezra Blount, was “in an induced coma on life support and has severe liver, kidney, and brain damage.” Now, unfortunately, the worst possible outcome of this situation has been reached, as Blount has died, his family told Houston’s ABC13. Blount’s passing marks the tenth death connected with Astroworld.

Ezra’s family’s attorney, Ben Crump, said in a statement, “The Blount family is grieving the incomprehensible loss of their precious young son. This should not have been the outcome of taking their son to a concert, what should have been a joyful celebration. Ezra’s death is absolutely heartbreaking. We are committed to seeking answers and justice for the Blount family. But we stand in solidarity with the family, in grief, and in prayer.”

Bernon Blount, Ezra’s grandfather, previously told Rolling Stone, “We have a lot of anger right now because someone is responsible for the condition of our grandson. For him to have the injuries he has, I can’t help picturing in my mind what he had to go through to get those injuries. Someone should be held responsible. He went there with his father to have a good time, not to be trampled halfway to… I don’t want to even say the word.”

Travis Scott Issued A Statement Reaching Out To The Families Of Astroworld Victims

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After the tragedy at Travis Scott’s Astroworld festival last weekend, where eight people lost their lives and hundreds more were injured, the Houston rapper is struggling to make things right for fans and the families who lost their loved ones. Though he’s already promised to help cover the funeral costs and other expenses for families who are dealing with the unexpected deaths, Scott and his team issued another statement today, providing families who wanted to be connected with a way to do so.

Here’s the full statement, as reported by Complex:

“Over the last week, Travis Scott and his team have been actively exploring routes of connection with each and every family affected by the tragedy through the appropriate liaisons. He is distraught by the situation and desperately wishes to share his condolences and provide aid to them as soon as possible, but wants to remain respectful of each family’s wishes on how they’d best like to be connected. To those families who would like to reach out directly to his team, please send an email to the below address where we will have a team on hand to assist. [email protected].”

One lawsuit has already been filed against Scott for the deaths and injuries at the event, with more likely to follow.