Rapper Travis Scott will pay for the funeral of those who died due to a crowd surge at the Astroworld Festival in Houston, on November 5, Variety reported.
Scott, who also founded the Astroworld event, has offered full refunds for the tickets, apart from an online therapy service in partnership with BetterHelp.
Multiple lawsuits were filed against the rapper, with rapper Drake and Live Nation’s names mentioned in a few. According to a NME report, festival attendee Manuel Souza filed a complaint against Scott, his record company Cactus Jack, festival organisers Live Nation and ScoreMore, and several other individuals and companies.
He alleged that the incident occurred due to the negligence of the organisers and was a result of “a motivation for profit at the expense of concertgoers’ health and safety’.”
“Defendants failed to properly plan and conduct the concert in a safe manner,” said Steve Kherkher, Souza’s attorney. “Instead, they consciously ignored the extreme risks of harm to concertgoers, and, in some cases actively encouraged and fomented dangerous behaviors.”
Several people posted videos of the incident on social media and accused the rapper of continuing to perform even as people were telling him to stop.
Around 17 people were rushed to the hospital out of which 11 were in cardiac arrest. More than 300 people were treated for minor injuries on the site of the tragedy.
Addressing a press conference on November 5, Houston Fire Chief Samuel Peña told reporters, “The crowd began to compress towards the front of the stage, and that caused some panic, and it started causing some injuries. People began to fall out, become unconscious, and it created additional panic”.
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After the incident, Scott took to Twitter and wrote, “I’m absolutely devasted by what took place last night. My prayers go out to the families and all those impacted by what happened at the Astroworld festival. Houston PD has my total support as they look into the tragic loss of life.”
While the autopsies of all the eight victims has been completed, the cause of death has still not been identified, according to the Houston Chronicle.