It’s only taken a few days for Travis Scott and the organisers of Astroworld to be sued over the festival tragedy.
As reported by Billboard, the rapper and the other organisers are facing at least one lawsuit over the deadly event. One of the injured concertgoers states the incident was “a predictable and preventable tragedy,” claiming it was the result of “a motivation for profit at the expense of concertgoers’ health and safety.”
The petition was filed in Harris County District Court on Saturday, November 6th, by Manuel Souza. He’s suing Scott, organiser ScoreMore, as well as ticket company Live Nation.
“Defendants failed to properly plan and conduct the concert in a safe manner,” said Souza’s attorney, Steve Kherkher of the firm Kherkher Garcia LLP. “Instead, they consciously ignored the extreme risks of harm to concertgoers, and, in some cases actively encouraged and fomented dangerous behaviors.”
The lawsuit claims that the organisers ignored several warning signs before the concert, including a moment where “concertgoers breached a security gate around the park, stampeded into the premises, and trampled over one another.”
Souza’s suit also says the organisers “made the conscious decision to let the show go on, despite the extreme risk of harm to concertgoers that was escalating by the moment.”
“Eventually, due to defendants’ active decision to let the show go on, the scene devolved into a complete melee, resulting in the needless, untimely death of at least 8 people and injuries to scores of others,” it states.
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Souza also points an accusing finger at Scott directly in the lawsuit, mentioning the controversial history of his concerts. “This kind of behavior has long been encouraged by the festival’s founder and main performer,” he wrote. “His express encouragement of violence has previously resulted in serious violence at numerous past concerts.”
Representatives for the accused haven’t yet responded to requests for comment. Many other lawsuits are expected to be filed over Astroworld, unsurprising given it’s one of the deadliest crowd disasters in recent memory.
For more on this topic, follow the Hip Hop Observer.
