Astroworld

Nearly 20 Lawsuits Have Been Filed Against Astroworld, Travis Scott, And Live Nation

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After several people were injured and eight lives were lost during a crowd-control disaster during Travis Scott’s set at this weekend’s Astroworld festival, many of the victims and their families are taking legal action against those deemed responsible. So far, nearly 20 lawsuits have been filed against Scott, the festival, and organizer Live Nation.

As of this week, 19 and counting lawsuits were filed surrounding the Astroworld incident, according to a report from Rolling Stone. One plaintiff is seeking nearly $1 million in damages from the festival and even alleged Drake was partially responsible for helping to “incite the crowd” to an “out of control” level when he took the stage as Scott’s surprise guest. The plaintiff claims they were stationed at the front of the general admission section and were “severely injured” in the “stampede” that happened when Scott took the stage at 9 pm. In a separate lawsuit, another plaintiff claimed they were “trampled, crushed, and lost consciousness” during the crowd surge that night.

Attorney Alex Hilliard is representing several people who are filing lawsuits surrounding the festival, saying he expects to file complaints for over 100 people by the end of this week. “There will be hundreds of plaintiffs by Friday, if not thousands,” Hilliard told Rolling Stone:

“I have one client who gave a stranger CPR for an hour before anybody even got to him. Obviously, by the time medical personnel got there, it was too late. He said, ‘I can heal from a broken arm, but I’ll never heal from this.’ This is such a unique, rare, and unprecedented case. […] We understand at least nine people on site had the ability to shut the concert down and didn’t. This is involuntary corporate manslaughter as far as we’re concerned.”

Following the lawsuits, Drake broke his silence about the tragic event. The rapper said he had been trying to “wrap [his] mind around the “devastating tragedy.” “My heart is broken for the families and friends of those who lost their lives and for anyone who is suffering,” he continued. “I will continue to pray for all of them, and will be of service in any way I can.”

Live Nation Is Launching A Fund To Help Injured Astroworld Attendees With Their Medical Bills

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The fallout from the Astroworld Festival incident over the weekend continues to settle as lawsuits emerge, performers respond, and investigations persist. Now, Live Nation and ScoreMore, the producers of the event, are working to ensure that the people affected will have support. The companies announced the establishment of a health fund to help injured Astroworld attendees with medical costs as they cooperate with authorities to determine the appropriate responses to the aftermath of the event, which left eight dead and 300 injured. The statement reads:

We wanted to provide an update on the steps that ScoreMore, Live Nation, and the Astroworld Fest team have been taking. Throughout the weekend, we have been working to provide local authorities with everything they need from us in order to complete their investigation and get everyone the answers they are looking for.
Our staff has met with local authorities to provide information, and we have also provided them with all footage from our CCTV cameras. Loadout of the site and equipment is currently paused to give investigators the time they requested to walk and document the grounds. Full refunds are being offered for all those who purchased tickets.
And most importantly we are working on ways to support attendees, the families of victims, and staff, from providing mental health counseling to setting up a health fund to help with costs for medical expenses.
Our entire team is mourning alongside the community.

Meanwhile, Travis Scott and Live Nation are already the subject of multiple lawsuits stemming from the injuries and deaths at the festival, with both pledging assistance to those affected.

Post Malone Will Replace Travis Scott As A Day N Vegas Headliner

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With Travis Scott dropping out of Day N Vegas in the wake of the deaths at his own Astroworld Festival, the Houston rapper has been replaced as a headliner by another Texan, Post Malone. He’ll close out the Saturday date this weekend, which Day N Vegas announced along with the rest of the set times on Monday evening.

Variety reported Travis’ withdrawal from the upcoming festival, citing a source that said the “Franchise” rapper was “too distraught to play” another show in the aftermath of the Astroworld incident, in which eight people died due to injuries sustained when the crowd pressed forward to get close to the stage. Another 300 people were reported injured.

Travis shared both a written statement and a video expressing his regrets for the incident. “My fans really mean the world to me,” he said. “I always just really want to leave them with a positive experience. […] I’m honestly just devastated. I could never imagine anything like this happening.” However, that hasn’t prevented him from being inundated with lawsuits, the first of which had already been filed the next day accusing Travis of “encouragement of violence.”

Meanwhile, Travis has also pledged his assistance to the victims’ families. Incidentally, his Day N Vegas replacement Post Malone recently postponed his own Posty Fest to 2022 citing logistical issues in the production of the event.

Kim Kardashian Says Travis Scott Is ‘Truly Devastated’ In Her Statement About Astroworld

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Ever since the tragedy that took place at the Astroworld festival last weekend, Travis Scott has shared a couple of statements about what happened. In both of them, he understandably seemed to be in a down place emotionally. Now, Kim Kardashian, who is of course related to Kylie Jenner and therefore probably knows Scott better than most, has noted that Scott is indeed feeling some significant sadness right now.

In a pair of tweets, Kardashian wrote, “Absolutely heartbroken for the lives who were lost and anyone who was hurt at Astroworld. Just like all of you, our family is in shock by the tragedy. We are keeping all of the victims, families and loved ones impacted in our prayers for healing — as well as Travis who we know cares so much about his fans and is truly devastated.”

Meanwhile, Jenner gave a statement of her own, saying, “I want to make it clear we weren’t aware of any fatalities until the news came out after the show and in no world would have continued filming or performing. I am sending my deepest condolences to all the families during this difficult time and will be praying for the healing of everyone who has been impacted.”

Drake Offers His First Statement About Astroworld: ‘My Heart Is Broken’

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The music world has now had a few days to react and grieve to the Astroworld festival tragedy that took place last weekend, which ended up with eight deaths and many more injuries. Travis Scott has made multiple statements about the situation, and now, Drake, who joined Scott during the performance when the fatal crowd crush happened, has shared his first words about what happened.

On Instagram, Drake wrote, “I’ve spent the past few days trying to wrap my mind around this devastating tragedy. I hate resorting to this platform to express an emotion as delicate as grief but this is where I find myself. My heart is broken for the families and friends of those who lost their lives and for anyone who is suffering. I will continue to pray for all of them, and will be of service in any way I can. May God be with you all.”

Scott currently faces multiple lawsuits over the festival and Drake is named as a co-defendant in at least one of them. A statement accompanying the lawsuit in which Drake is named reads, ““There is no excuse for the events that unfolded at NRG stadium on Friday night. There is every indication that the performers, organizers, and venue were not only aware of the hectic crowd but also that injuries and potential deaths may have occurred. Still, they decided to put profits over their attendees and allowed the deadly show to go on.”

Travis Scott Reportedly Cancels His Day N Vegas Performance Because He’s ‘Too Distraught’ After Astroworld

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This past weekend was supposed to be a highlight of the year for Travis Scott, but instead, it became one of the biggest tragedies of his life. At his Astroworld festival, eight people died and many more were injured due to a crowd surge during Scott’s set. The rapper was supposed to be a headliner at this upcoming weekend’s Day N Vegas festival, but understandably, it looks like he will not be performing as planned.

Variety reports that Scott has backed out of the performance because he is “too distraught to play,” according to the publication’s source. As of this post, Day N Vegas organizers have yet to announce any lineup changes related to Scott.

Indeed, Scott seemed deeply bothered by what happened in the statements he shared. His first public response was a written statement in which he said, “I’m absolutely devastated by what took place last night. My prayers go out to the families and all those impacted by what happened at Astroworld Festival.” He reiterated that in a video he later shared, saying, “My fans really mean the world to me. I always just really want to leave them with a positive experience. […] I’m honestly just devastated. I could never imagine anything like this happening.”

Furthermore, Variety also reports that Scott intends to provide full refunds to all Astroworld ticketholders.

Travis Scott And Drake Are Being Sued Over The Astroworld Festival Deaths

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What was supposed to be a joyous event turned into a tragedy over the weekend as eight people died during a crowd surge at Travis Scott’s Astroworld festival on Friday, November 5. Now, Scott is facing multiple lawsuits over the event and Drake is a defendant in one of them.

As previously reported, Astroworld attendee Manuel Souza is suing Scott, Live Nation, and organizer ScoreMore. The lawsuit claims the incident was the result of “a motivation for profit at the expense of concertgoers’ health and safety” and the “encouragement of violence.” It also calls the situation a “predictable and preventable tragedy.”

Souza’s attorney, Steve Kherkher of Kherkher Garcia LLP, wrote, “Defendants failed to properly plan and conduct the concert in a safe manner. Instead, they consciously ignored the extreme risks of harm to concertgoers, and, in some cases actively encouraged and fomented dangerous behaviors.”

Furthermore, NME reports that another suit was filed by Texas-based attorney Thomas J. Henry, on behalf of an unnamed Astroworld attendee. Listed as co-defendants are Scott, Drake, Live Nation, and NRG Stadium, and a press release from Henry’s law firm alleges the surge happened when Drake made a surprise appearance on stage.

“There is no excuse for the events that unfolded at NRG stadium on Friday night,” Henry said in a statement. “There is every indication that the performers, organizers, and venue were not only aware of the hectic crowd but also that injuries and potential deaths may have occurred. Still, they decided to put profits over their attendees and allowed the deadly show to go on.”

Beyond that, there’s yet another lawsuit, filed by civil rights and personal injury attorney Ben Crump on behalf of Astroworld attendee Noah Gutierrez, who claims to have offered assistance to crowd members in need in the VIP section.

Crump wrote in a statement, “We are hearing horrific accounts of the terror and helplessness people experienced — the horror of a crushing crowd and the awful trauma of watching people die while trying unsuccessfully to save them. We will be pursuing justice for all our clients who were harmed in this tragic and preventable event.”

The statement also notes that Crump expects to file more lawsuits on behalf of other victims in the coming days, so it appears Scott’s plate is full when it comes to legal trouble.

Travis Scott Dreams Of Wealth And Running Away From The Chaos On ‘Escape Plan’ And ‘Mafia’

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For the third time in four years, Travis Scott will bring the rage to his hometown of Houston with his trademark Astroworld Festival. In addition to performing “The Scotts” and “Franchise,” as well as his last album, Astroworld, Travis will most likely perform a new song at the festival as he returns tonight with “Escape Plan” and “Mafia.” The former track is everything you expect from him as it’s raucous and full of chaos while the latter is a bit more relaxed and calm for a record from Travis

Travis’ upcoming Astroworld Festival, which takes place on November 5 and 6, will feature performances from 21 Savage, Baby Keem, Bad Bunny, BIA, Chief Keef, Don Toliver, Earth, Wind & Fire, Houston All-Stars, Lil Baby, Master P, Roddy Ricch, Sheck Wes, Sofaygo, SZA, Teezo Touchdown, Toro Y Moi, Tame Impala, Young Thug, and Yves Tumor. Travis will also livestream his first of two solo sets at Astroworld exclusively on Apple Music.

The new track comes after he joined Young Thug and Drake on “Bubbly” and teamed with Don Toliver for “Flocky Flocky.”

You can listen to “Escape Plan” in the video above and check out Mafia here.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Tame Impala Performed Their Travis Scott Collab ‘Skeletons’ For The First Time At Their Live Comeback

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Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker has had the opportunity to collaborate with a handful of rappers over the years. A prominent and relatively recent example of that is “Skeletons,” a highlight from Travis Scott’s hit 2018 album Astroworld. Earlier this week, on September 7, Tame Impala kicked off their comeback tour at the United Center in Chicago, and during the set, the band decided to perform the Scott collaboration for the first time.

In a 2018 Billboard interview, Parker spoke about how “Skeletons” came to be, saying, “[Scott’s] manager got in touch and said he was a big fan [and suggested we] meet up if I was ever in LA, so I went to a few sessions with him. We hung out and played some stuff, and he really liked what ended up being ‘Skeletons.’ That definitely got the biggest reaction out of him. I could tell he liked it. I remember going through this stuff to play to Travis, and just thought, ‘Oh, this is actually really up his alley.’ I know Travis likes his psych-rock. He likes his crusty metal guitar sound. I was struck by how much I thought it would fit Travis’ thing even though it’s not hip-hop-sounding. So much hip-hop is cycled from music that sounds like that — crusty-sounding ’70s rock. There’s so much of that, that kind of King Crimson stuff.”

In that same conversation, he talked about what it was like working with Scott, saying, “What’s cool about people like Travis is that they’re just getting a bunch of people in the room and seeing what happens. For a lot of it, I was just a team player. At some points, there were 10, 20 people in the room. You could just be there and hang out and not do anything for like an hour. And then something perks your ears up, and you can be like, ‘Oh yeah yeah, plug me in, I’ve got an idea.’ We’d go for hours, until three in the morning.”

Watch a clip of the “Skeletons” performance above.

Don Toliver’s ‘What You Need’ Video Is An Unexpected Kind Of Flex

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For those of you who’ve been following Don Toliver since his breakout feature on mentor and label-boss Travis Scott’s Astroworld, for the track “Can’t Say,” the Texas rapper is back on the scene today with a brand new video. Following up his own debut album Heaven Or Hell, released in 2020, a year that very well fits that description, Toliver’s “What You Need” video is a Nabil-directed clip that finds him riding in green limos and encountering mystical, glowing plumes of smoke out in the forest. It’s trippy in all the right ways, and the song itself is going to be the lead single off Toliver’s sophomore album, slated for release sometime this summer.

Aside from releasing his debut last year, Don also raised some eyebrows over his kerfuffle with the XXL Freshman cover, an extremely coveted and highly-visible co-sign for rising rappers, which he reportedly turned down in a sense. The magazine’s longtime editor-in-chief told Hot 97’s The Breakfast Club that the young Houston MC basically insisted he’d only pose for the cover photo, and was going to skip all the cyphers, concerts, and freestyles associated with the project. Obviously that didn’t go over well with XXL, but considering Travis Scott took the same route, eschewing the Freshman cover, it seems like Toliver will do just fine anyway. Plus his appearance on Cactus Jack’s Jackboys EP was another boost for his profile, proving Scott’s co-sign might be just as important at this point.

Watch the new video above and look for more info on Toliver’s second album coming soon.