Coachella organizers have been under increasing pressure from Travis Scott to be dropped after 8 people were killed in Texas during Scott’s latest show.
This beleaguered rapper has been sued by the Houston Astroworld for inciting violence on stage. The result was a massive crowd outcry that left eight people dead and many more injured.
An online petition is now urging Coachella promotional firm Goldenvoice and their company CEO Paul Tollett to axe Scott, 29, from the event, which takes place in southern California on 15-17 and 22-24 April 2022.
Close to 25,000 signatures have been added to the change.org appeal, titled ‘Remove Travis Scott as a Goldenvoice performer.’
Already, the rapper was dropped from an appearance scheduled for Day N Vegas Festival in Nevada. He had been originally scheduled as the headline act.
Backlash: Coachella organizers are under pressure to drop Travis Scott from their line-up after eight people lost their lives during his latest performance in Texas
On November 8, just three days after the Texas tragedy in Texas, organizers released a statement confirming their decision not to perform. Post Malone replaced him.
It was posted on Twitter and read, “Travis Scott will not be performing at Day N Vegas.” Day N Vegas’ security and safety has always been a top priority during festival planning.
“We work closely with police, medic personnel and other public safety agencies to develop our protocols for this weekend.
Post Malone will be performing alongside Tyler the Creator and Kendrick Lamar, who both have performances scheduled for the weekend.
Appeal: Close to 25,000 signatures have been added to a change.org petition aimed at the event organizers, titled ‘Remove Travis Scott as a Goldenvoice performer’
Stepping in: The rapper has already been dropped from a forthcoming appearance at the Day N Vegas festival in Nevada, where he was originally slated as a headline act. Post Malone (pictured above) is his replacement
Texas attorney Thomas J. Henry represents 68 victims in the lawsuit against Scott, fellow rapper Drake and organizers Live Nation. There are many more cases to come.
Henry said that Henry is receiving more calls about injured victims every day. While we all are still trying to comprehend the entire scope of Astroworld’s tragedy, I think the total damages it caused could reach into the billions.
After Scott performed while protestors shouted “Stop the Show!”, furious family members of victims demanded that Scott be held responsible.
Controversy: Scott is seen in footage taken at Astroworld saying “hold, hold and hold” and asking for help from a person who has been “passed out”. However, it’s not known who.
Stampede : A few feet away from Scott’s stage, people in the audience wave at him and beg him to stop performing so they can get treated.
A rapper who claimed he was devastated by the loss of loved ones, and that he couldn’t imagine anything similar, has been twice found guilty for encouraging his fans to leap security bars and rush the stage during previous concert performances.
Drake, age 35, described it as a “devastating tragedy” in an Instagram posting Sunday night. He wrote: “My heart breaks for the families of those who have lost their lives, and anyone else who is suffering.
“I will keep praying for each of them, and I will do my best to be of assistance in any way that I can. God Bless You All.
Tragic: At 2pm on Friday hundreds stormed the VIP entrance of Festival. Eight people were killed in a crowd of supporters who gathered at the festival’s VIP entrance seven hours later.
A nine-year old boy, who had been sitting on his father’s shoulder at Astroworld festival, is currently in an medically induced stupor after being seriously injured by the fatal crowd surge.
The father of a nine-year old boy dropped him as he was holding him over the crowd at Friday’s Astroworld Festival. Now, the boy is in an artificial coma that has severe damage to his brain, heart and lungs.
Ezra Blount was one of hundreds of concertgoers that were hospitalized in the stampede at Travis Scott.
Treston was the father of the boy who traveled with him to Dallas from his Dallas mother. The father-son outing turned quickly into a disaster.
Treston Blount wrote that his injuries, which include swelling from brain damage and trauma almost all of the organs, made it certain that Ezra was injured and remains in an induced coma. He created a GoFundMe campaign for Ezra’s son and raised over $7,000 within 3 hours.
Treston stated that Treston passed out holding Ezra’s hand so that it wouldn’t crush him. His son, Treston said, had just been admitted to a local hospital by himself as a John Doe when he reached the medical tent.
Treston posted a GoFundMe message for his son. It raised almost $7,000 within three hours.
Treston has a lot of Travis Scott love. He even has an Astroworld photo as his Facebook cover and an Astroworld tattoo on the back. Treston and his family now need answers. Travis Scott’s apologizes so far are not enough.
“I’ve read online apology posts that were not sincere. You don’t have to feel this way if it makes you so miserable. Why not visit the hospital to take care of your fans? It is absurd to continue allowing concerts to go on as they are and allowing people to be injured. Bernon Blount was Ezra’s grandfather and spoke to ABC13.
“Nobody should be injured in order to make money. Nobody should lose their grandchild or child to make money. Safety should have been available for the fans.
His grandfather stated that his grandson had witnessed the accident and that the boy sustained so much injury that he suffered cardiac arrest.
He said, “If the mayor claimed there were 500 police officers there, then I did not see 500.” ‘When it was stated that 700 security were present at the event, I didn’t see 700. I saw hundreds of children running through their gates, trampling and shoving each other. That’s all I saw.
Scores of people were also left with injuries, including one nine-year old boy who fell from his father’s shoulder during the scrum.
Ezra Blount sustained swelling to his brain and damaged to “nearly all organs” when he was tramped by the crowd. His father Treston posted the following on GoFundMe.
Last night, a 22-year old student was declared brain dead. The lawsuits against Scott as well as festival organizers seem set to escalate.
Bharti Shahani, a senior at Texas A&M, went to the concert with her sister and cousin but they became separated in the chaos.
Headline act: Drake, who performs onstage with Travis Scott Friday night, is the headline act. Then he went to his favourite sports bar, unaware that people had been murdered.
“Once one fell, everyone started falling like dominos. It felt like the earth was sinking. “People were falling on top each other,” her cousin Mohit Bellani explained to ABC.
It was like there were two layers of people on the ground. The struggle to breathe and get to the top was what we were trying to do.
Shahani experienced a loss of oxygen over several minutes. Doctors believe this led to swelling in her brain stem, the portion of the organ that is attached to the spine. With the help of a ventilator, she is still breathing.
Outrage: The video from the night shows Scott performing while one of his supporters is given to security guards.
Scott’s performance continues, as Scott the injured casualty gets treated side by side at the festival.
Crush: A crowd surged toward the front around 9pm. Scott saw an ambulance moving through the crowd about 9:30pm.
Scott continues to sing as the limp bodies of his audience are carried above their heads and people beg them to quit.
It was cancelled thirty minutes earlier than scheduled, and half an hour after the fire department declared that there had been a mass casualty incident’.
One video shows an ambulance trying to navigate through crowds, and taking over 10 minutes to get to the patient.
Scott is the headline act at Astroworld Festival Houston (Texas) on November 5.
Additional footage captures Scott with his entourage, which rushes onto the stage to share their thoughts.
Scott turned to the crowd and said “Y’all know where you’re going,” before the music resumed.
Then he asked his companions in the crowd to give a ‘ground shake’.
During a song, at around 9:30pm, Scott stopped the music and, seeing an ambulance arrive, said: ‘What the f*** is that?’
Live Nation then stopped him from continuing until he reached 10:10 pm, approximately 30 minutes early than originally planned. That’s 40 minutes after the officials of the city had declared the’mass causalty event’ to have begun.
However, despite all the emergency personnel and the “mass casualty” declarations, Drake still went to Dave & Buster to celebrate his appearance onstage with him earlier in the night.
According to TMZ sources, Scott left the party once it was clear that there had been deaths.
Scott was present at the party to add to the allegations that the Houston-born rapper showed indifference during the aftermath of the tragedy.
Relatives of the deceased are already suing him.
Scott promised to cover funeral costs, but the families feel that better security protocols should have been in place.
As a large group of the 50,000 people in Houston pushed towards the NRG Park stage, a small number of victims aged 14-27 were killed. A timer was set to start the performance at 9pm.