Travis Scott, Live Nation hit with more than 100 lawsuits following Astroworld tragedy
The music festival's death toll climbed to nine over the weekend.
Travis Scott and event company Live Nation’s legal troubles stemming from the Nov. 5 Astroworld disaster in Houston continued to mount over the weekend.
As of Friday, at least 108 lawsuits have been filed related to the tragedy, according to the New York Post. At least 98 of those suits were filed by prominent civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump. Crump’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment Sunday morning.
“We will make sure that they get justice because this should have never happened,” Crump told reporters during a Friday morning press conference.
So far, the planned two-day Astroworld music festival at NRG Stadium – where a major crowd surge overwhelmed event staffers, resulting in some attendees getting trampled and others passing out – has led to the deaths of at least nine people and injuries to an estimated 300 more.
The lawsuits filed at Harris County District Court in Houston named Scott, Live Nation and Drake, who appeared on stage at the show. Others listed as defendants include Scott’s record company, Cactus Jack Records LLC, production company Scoremore LLC, producer Sascha Stone Guttfreund, and ASM Global, which manages NRG Stadium.
Stadium owner Convention Corp. and Harris County Sports also have been named in at least one of the suits, according to the Post, along with Contemporary Services Corp., a crowd management and security company. The family of 9-year-old Ezra Blount filed a lawsuit on Tuesday. Blount’s father told ABC-13 on Friday that his son is still on life support after being trampled at the concert two weeks prior.
Cy Fair high school cheerleader Madison Dubiski’s parents also filed a wrongful death suit on behalf of their daughter, who was 23 when she was killed. One lawsuit claims members of the Astroworld crowd sexually assaulted multiple women during the event, the Post reported.
Texas A&M student Bharti Shahani, 22, is the latest to die as a result of injuries received at Astroworld. She was on track to graduate in the spring of 2022. Shahani’s sister Namrata told Associated Press her sibling’s last words were “Are you OK?” A case filed on her behalf Tuesday was withdrawn when she died a day later.
Scott and Astroworld event organizers have faced criticism for allegedly failing to stop the concert after multiple people were seen passing out amid the crowd rush. At least one video of the incident showed Scott pausing the show and asking security to aid a person he saw lose consciousness.
A criminal investigation into the event has been launched, according to the Associated Press. Law enforcement officers who worked the event said there wasn’t much they could do to stop the tragic events, according to leaked radio traffic audio obtained by the Houston Chronicle. Some said they witnessed people scaling a gate at the show while trying to escape certain areas amid the crowd surge.
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