(ReliableNews.org) – Rapper Jacques Bermon Webster II, known as Travis Scott, is known for his intense concerts and ability to hype his fans up. That took a disastrous turn in 2021 at his Houston Astroworld concert. A Texas judge has now refused the artist’s attempts to get out from under civil lawsuits.
On April 23, District Judge Kristen Hawkins denied Scott’s request that he and XX Global, his touring and production company, be dismissed from hundreds of lawsuits related to the Astroworld event. Several days earlier, the rapper’s legal team argued that he wasn’t responsible for the dangers at the concert venue where the concert took place on November 5, 2021.
A fatal crowd crush took place at the Astroworld Festival at NRG Park. According to the Houston Police Department’s report about the tragedy, there were danger signs in advance. A contract worker, Reece Wheeler, saw people getting crushed before the rapper took the stage and sent a message to an event organizer advising them to end the show, saying, “Someone’s going to end up dead.”
Instead of pulling the plug, Scott took the stage. The crowd surged forward while he was performing and attendees became trapped. Ten people died from compression asphyxia, including a 9-year-old. Attorney Noah Wexler, who’s representing the family of 23-year-old Madison Dubiski, who died, said the rapper had a “conscious disregard for safety” at the festival.
Scott’s lawyers said the only thing the rapper was responsible for was the creative aspects of the concert. They argued that the security and safety at festivals were “not the job of performing artists.”
Some of the hundreds of lawsuits against the rapper and Live Nation have already been settled, including suits from the families of four others who died at the event. The lawsuit against Scott from Dubiski’s family is set to go to trial on May 6.
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