Travis Scott: Valuing Art over Life?

On November 5th 2021, Travis Scott was performing his final set at his music festival, Astroworld. Astroworld is a Houston music festival founded by Scott and hosted on the former grounds of Six Flags Astroworld. The festival was first launched in 2018 and has continued every year since then, with the exception of 2020 due to COVID-19 restrictions.

On the first night of this music festival, thousands of fans rushed the stage and fans that didn’t have tickets jumped the festival barriers and stormed past security guards. In a matter of minutes, a crowd surge broke out. As a result, at least 25 people were sent to the hospital and at least 10 people died. As people were suffocating, collapsing, and grasping for air, Scott continued to perform. At one point, people were chanting “stop the concert” and trying to get his attention by climbing the stage/lighting area so that the individuals in the crowd surge could get some help. While Scott did stop the concert for a moment to let an ambulance through the crowd, he ignored people’s pleas and continued performing as if nothing was going on around him.

The concert officials called this a “mass casualty event” and a criminal investigation was immediately underway. It appears, however, that after all this time, Scott still has not been charged with a crime. If he is charged, it could be as serious as manslaughter. In fact, this wouldn’t be the first time he has faced criminal charges related to inciting crowds. Scott has a history of this and has been known to encourage his fans to go wild in crowds and/or create mosh pits, saying things like “I want to see some rages. Who want to rage?”

The question to ask here is, who should be responsible? Is Scott to blame for willfully ignoring the people’s cries? Can one argue that he was valuing his music/art over people’s lives? Must the show really go on, even if it means the death of his concertgoers, his devoted fans? And if Scott isn’t to blame, then who? In most scenarios, the finger can be pointed back to Scott and his team. However, as of now, there has not been any official blame on any one person or group of people.

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One thought on “Travis Scott: Valuing Art over Life?

  1. I remember hearing about the Travis Scott Astrowold incident while I was in high school and how tragic it was. Everyone I knew, including myself, was a lover of Travis Scott and was heartbroken and angered to hear the details of his festival. Hearing about it then and revisiting the topic now my opinion on the situation has not changed; I think Travis Scott and his entire team are at fault and should be charged. Scott showed that he was at least somewhat aware of the situation when he paused to let an ambulance through. Even if Scott was unaware of what damage his words could cause, he saw that somebody needed help for whatever reason and did not stop to make sure his fans were okay. His team also should have been well aware of the situation in enough time to tell Scott to stop performing. I do think that Travis Scott and all of the people working for him to help put on the festival prioritized art over people’s lives and well being.

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