Rapper Travis Scott has pledged to fund memorial services for victims of the Astroworld tragedy, which left eight people dead and at least 25 injured Friday at the Houston music festival.
In addition to covering funeral costs, Scott is also partnering with online mental health services provider BetterHelp and Houston’s Cactus Jack Foundation to offer a month of free therapy to survivors and others affected by the incident.
A press release from Scott’s publicity team on Monday called the efforts “the first of many steps Travis plans on taking as a part of his personal vow to assist those affected throughout their grieving and recovery process.”
The announcement also mentions that the “Sicko Mode” artist is cooperating with mental health organizations such as NAMI, MHA National and MHA of Greater Houston to provide additional resources to individuals impacted by Friday’s events.
To access a month of complimentary counseling sessions with a licensed therapist, Astroworld attendees and others must complete a mental health survey on the BetterHelp website.
The Houston chapter of NAMI has also set up a national hotline, which can be reached at (844) 256-2641, Monday through Friday, from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
The hotline will direct callers to BetterHelp and “ensure access to various counseling services, psychoeducation, community-based healing circles, support groups, and other related services."
Rapper ‘devastated’
In multiple statements given over the weekend, Scott said he is “devastated” by the deadly situation that unfolded at Astroworld, where a crowd surge resulted in concertgoers collapsing, getting trampled, struggling to breathe and going into cardiac arrest.
Scott has since vowed to refund all Astroworld ticket fees and reportedly dropped out of this weekend’s Day N Vegas music festival as any performance involving him could come under some scrutiny for crowd control measures and other safety concerns.
Multiple lawsuits have already been filed against Scott in connection with the Astroworld disaster.
“I just want to send out prayers to the ones that was lost last night."
“I just want to send out prayers to the ones that was lost last night. We’re actually working right now to identify their families, so we can help assist them through this tough time,” Scott said Saturday in a series of videos posted to his Instagram story.
“My fans really mean the world to me, and I always want to leave them with a positive experience. And any time I could make out anything that was going on, I’d stop the show and help them get the help they need. I could never imagine the severity of the situation.”
Previous shows known for chaos
The Grammy-nominated rapper’s high-energy performances are known for being chaotic and fun-filled shows with concertgoers encouraged to take part in a raucous nature involving mosh pits, crowd surfing and stage diving.
Theo Wargo
Theo Wargo
People in the crowd reported lots of pushing and shoving during the performances leading up to Scott’s set — which is normal at his shows. He’s often encouraged fans to bypass security and rush the stage, but none of those previous situations resulted in fatalities.
Two of Scott’s previous shows could turn out to have possible implications in the current tragedy.
“I've seen him tell people like ‘Don't listen to security. Forget security. This is for y'all. This is for the fans.'"
In 2017, Scott was arrested after he encouraged fans to bypass security and rush the stage, leaving a security guard, a police officer and several others injured during a concert in Arkansas. In a separate incident, he was sentenced to one year of court supervision after pleading guilty to reckless conduct charges stemming from a 2015 incident in Chicago at the Lollapalooza music festival.
At the time, Chicago officials said Scott encouraged fans to vault security barricades. However, no one was injured.
“In terms of energy, he wants the energy he’s giving out on stage to be reciprocated from the audience, almost in defiance,” said Julian Kimble, who wrote a concert review on Scott’s 2018 Astroworld performance for the Washington Post. He called the rapper one of the most electrifying performers he’s seen.
“I’ve seen him tell people like ‘Don’t listen to security. Forget security. This is for y’all. This is for the fans,’” he continued. “With regards to last night, that’s an example of how things can go wrong. There’s a lot of negligence across the board. I don’t think there’s one bad guy or culprit. It’s a sweeping structural failure with what happened.”
The latest on the investigation
Meanwhile, The Associated Press reports that the Houston police and fire departments were deeply involved in safety measures for the Astroworld music festival, playing key roles in crowd control measures, on-site security staffing and the emergency response. The police chief even says he met with the headlining performer before the show.
The city’s police department is leading the criminal investigation into how the deadly chaos erupted during Friday night’s performance by Scott.
The Houston Police Department's probe would be separate from any independent investigation ordered by County Judge Lina Hidalgo, Harris County's top elected official.
While a prominent local official is calling for a separate, independent review of the tragedy, experts in crowd safety say an investigation by neutral outsiders could help the city avoid potential conflicts of interest and promote transparency.
Houston Police Department spokeswoman Jodi Silva declined to comment on questions about whether its close involvement in the event created a conflict or if it considered handing the probe off to an outside agency. Such decisions are often made in investigations like police shootings.
“All of the information we have available to put out at this time has been placed out on Twitter,” Silva said.
The police department’s probe would be separate from any independent investigation ordered by County Judge Lina Hidalgo, Harris County’s top elected official, according to Rafael Lemaitre, a spokesman for the county judge’s office. Hidalgo hasn’t decided who would conduct such an independent review or how it would be done, Lemaitre said Monday.
“She wants to know if this could have been prevented in any way,” Lemaitre said. “It’s also entirely possible that it was not preventable for whatever reason, and that’s something we would like to know, as well.”
Lingering questions
Key questions remained unanswered after the Astroworld festival at the Harris County-owned NRG Park. Some of the lingering questions involve what the Houston police and fire departments did before, during and after a crowd surged toward the stage, killing eight people and injuring many more, with over 300 people treated on site and at least 13 others hospitalized. Other questions center on the actions of event organizers.
Officials with the Houston police and fire departments have said that part of their investigation will include reviewing whether the concert promoter and others behind the festival adhered to the plans that were submitted for the event.
Astroworld’s organizers laid out security and emergency medical response protocols for the festival in plans filed with Harris County. The 56-page operations plan, obtained by The Associated Press, says that a decision to evacuate the event would be made by the festival director after consultation with other individuals, including the security director. Such plans were filed with Harris County and Houston and have to be reviewed by Houston police officials.
Christopher Slobogin, director of the criminal justice program at Vanderbilt University, said an independent criminal investigation into what happened in Houston could be beneficial to avoid any potential conflicts of interest. But acknowledged that this case is different from typical situations where authorities are confronted with decisions over whether to step away from a case because of a conflict of interest.
“The actual crime was probably not committed directly by the fire department or the police department,” he said. “But at least for appearance purposes, if an independent body did the investigation I think that would be the better practice.”
Compiled by ArLuther Lee for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Information provided by The Associated Press was used to supplement this report. Our staff typically compiles wire reports, adding supplementary information from multiple news sources to emphasize angles that are important to our readers.
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