Less than 36 hours after the release of Travis Scott's Escape Plan with a cover reading ‘The True Dystopia Is Here’, 8 people lost their lives, and several hundred people were hospitalised after a crowd surge at Scott's Astroworld music festival. The festival, with over 50,000 attendees, was planned to last two days but had to be stopped within 37 minutes of Travis' performance due to the hundreds of people passing out, getting trampled, going into cardiac arrest, and suffering from severe panic attacks.
Within hours of the news coverage, people took to social media to discuss Travis Scott's accountability for the tragic events that have now resulted in the deaths of 10 people, the youngest victim being a nine-year-old boy. While certain videos show Travis stopping the show to tell people to let the medics pass through, other videos show him performing while staring straight at an unconscious body, his team ignoring the cries of hundreds to stop the show since people were dying in the crowd, etc.
People are also addressing what seems to be the root of the issue; Travis Scott's disregard for the well-being of his fans and his reckless endangerment of life. This is not the first time his concerts have ended with fans having a bad taste in their mouths; in 2015 and 2018, the Highest In the Room artist pleaded guilty to public disorder charges at his concerts. Videos have resurfaced of Travis encouraging his fans to jump another fan who allegedly tried to take Scott's shoe, pressurising fans to jump off balconies and surfaces of height, and other greatly disturbing behaviour. In a now-deleted tweet, Travis encouraged fans to sneak into the already sold-out Astroworld festival. On the day of the festival, videos show hundreds, if not thousands, of people breaking down the security gate and rushing into the grounds of the festival, with several people falling & piling up on each other.
Whether Travis Scott will be held legally responsible for the events that occurred at what people are now referring to as ‘AstroHell’ is still to be seen, but for the moment, we remember Ezra Blount, John Hilger, Brianna Rodriguez, Franco Patino, Jacob Jurinek, Danish Baig, Axel Acosta, Rodolfo Peña, Madison Dubiski, and Bharti Shahani; innocent, young individuals who wanted nothing but to watch an artist perform.