Some argue that this culture of idolization results in celebrities, like Scott, viewing their fans as being beneath them.

This mass exposure is what creates a phenomenon called parasocial relationships: one-sided relationships where one person is invested in another party, often a celebrity, who doesn’t know that said person exists. Celebrity culture is the extreme exposure to celebrities’ personal lives that often leads to them being idolized by fans and the public at large. Scott’s response during and after the show has yielded growing calls to abolish “celebrity culture” altogether. And in 2017, he pled guilty to disorderly conduct after being accused of inciting a riot at a performance when he allegedly encouraged people to push past security. In 2015, he was arrested for reportedly telling fans to climb over the security barricades during his performance at a music festival.

Scott has been known to foster a culture of violence at his performances, often encouraging people to disregard safety protocols. Though Scott stopped the show multiple times to acknowledge that people were hurt, he failed to address the severity of the issue and end the concert. This is you literally encouraging the crowd to disrespect security, while they are trying to make a path for medical to pass through. “It’s not that hard to be a decent human being.” “There’s a literal video of you singing while you’re literally looking at someone passed out, any decent artist would of stopped the show,” wrote one user on Twitter in response to Scott’s statement. But moments later, he continued performing. In one video, he briefly stopped his performance to order help for someone in the crowd who had passed out. Videos from the concert see Scott allegedly aware of the chaos. Still, for many, these apologies all fall short. A statement sent wide by a representative of the rapper said Scott would cover the funeral costs of the Astroworld victims.ĭrake, meanwhile, who appeared during Scott’s set, wrote on IG: “My heart is broken for the families and friends of those who lost their lives and for anyone who is suffering.” Jenner faced backlash after allegedly posting a video of the concert to her Instagram story as an ambulance made its way through the crowd, but wrote in a later statement via her IG story that she and Scott “weren’t aware of any fatalities until the news came out after the show and in no world would have continued filming or performing.”įor his part, Scott posted a note to Twitter, writing that he is “absolutely devastated” and is working with the Houston community to support families in need. On November 6, Scott and his girlfriend Kylie Jenner, who was in attendance, released respective statements about the events that took place.

(Excuse any language you may hear) /d0m2rjqAAk Hundreds of people destroyed the VIP security entrance, bypassing the checkpoint. The Houston Police Department has launched an investigation into these claims to determine what led to the concert’s deadly turn of events.Īs we were arriving to the Astroworld Festival at NRG Park right at 2:00, a stampede burst through the gates.

Reporting from The New York Times and Los Angeles Times speculates whether the event had adequate security and medical personnel on hand. According to the Houston Chronicle, after police and firefighters declared a “mass casualty,” Scott continued to perform for 37 minutes.Īttendees say the concert was unsafe from the start, with videos showing hundreds of people bursting through the gates and bypassing checkpoints. Of the roughly 50,000 people that attended the show, 25 were hospitalized, the youngest patient just 10 years old, as reported by Vulture. Those who died range from the ages of 27 to 14 years old. “The crowd, for whatever reason, began to push and surge towards the front of the stage, which caused the people in the front to be compressed - they were unable to escape that situation,” Houston fire chief Sam Peña told CNN. Travis Scott and Drake are reportedly facing multiple lawsuits after eight people were killed and scores more injured in a crowd surge at Scott’s Astroworld Festival in Houston, Texas.Īs we’ve all come to learn, the event descended into chaos on November 5 when the crowd pushed toward the stage during Scott’s set, the pressure leaving some attendees unable to breathe, witnesses say.

Astroworld cameraman