Accountability for the Astroworld Crowd Surge

The Astroworld Festival in Houston, Texas on Monday, November 8 2021 marked one of the most horrific concert tragedies in history when a crowd surge killed ten people and injured hundreds of others. Despite the ongoing panic occurring during the surge, Travis Scott continued his concert. This tragedy has spurred much discourse regarding who should be held accountable for the incident, with many condemning Travis Scott’s disregard for crowd safety and the concert industry’s ignorance.

A crowd surge is when a large group of people attempt to move into a smaller space all at once. This rush of movement can be especially dangerous because of trampling as well as asphyxiation. People can become so packed together that they are unable to receive oxygen or move their bodies to escape the compression, further inducing panic. A crowd surge usually moves in two directions: one pushing forward into a space and the other in the opposite direction attempting to escape.

Despite crowd surges existing since the beginning of the live entertainment industry, the Astroworld crowd surge is considered to have been monumental, largely due to circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic. Following lockdowns, events and concerts have grown in size to make up for the lost time. However, these larger events are still being held in the same facilities as before, significantly compressing the attending audiences past the point of safety.

This tragedy poses the question of who should be held responsible for the Astroworld crowd surge, and opinions vary. More than 300 lawsuits have been filed against Astroworld; Live Nation, Apple, and Travis Scott are in the process of being sued for $2 billion by injured concertgoers.

Houston lawyer, Tony Buzbee, is seeking more than $750 million on behalf of 125 victims. Nick Rozansky, an attorney at Brutzkus Gubner, told Yahoo Finance, “I think it’d be a stretch to put this on Travis Scott.” Contrarily, Houston Fire Chief Samuel Pena said Scott absolutely should have stopped the show once he saw the crowd surge, stating that “everybody at that event has a responsibility, starting from the artist on down.” Rozansky guesses that the financial burden will fall on the security company and event promoters like Live Nation.

According to Bryan Sullivan of CNBC, the rapper would have to incite the violence through direct action to be liable for the event. Sullivan guesses that Scott will be dismissed from the case.

Although lawyers believe that Scott will bear no legal responsibility, a fall-out in the rapper’s future is likely. Due to the tragedy, brands previously partnered with Scott such as Nike, Dior, and Epic Games have distanced themselves.

Prior to the festival, Chief Troy Finner of Houston police expressed safety concerns directly to Travis Scott in a meeting with the entertainer and his head of security. These concerns were ignored, leaving the Astroworld security unable to adequately deal with the impending surge..

One security guard, Darius Williams, said he had no prior experience in security. While being completely aware of this, Astroworld still hired him. Williams also mentioned that the security hiring seemed rushed and he “didn’t feel safe working because he was sure the gates were going to get stormed.”

Following the tragedy, Scoremore has offered full refunds for those who had purchased tickets for Astroworld. Scott is also offering to pay for victims’ funeral expenses while partnering with Betterhelp, the online therapy service, to provide free mental health services for attendees of the festival for one month.

This tragedy should make fans question their support of Travis Scott. Consider the rapper’s past actions; at Lollapalooza in 2016, Chicago Police arrested Scott after he urged fans to climb over barricades to go on stage. Furthermore, in 2017 Scott encouraged a fan to jump from a second floor balcony in New York City and in that same performance another fan was pushed off a third floor balcony, rendering them paralyzed.

Although Travis Scott is not directly to blame for the deaths of ten people, his teams and his brand should take accountability for the tragic event. In general, Astroworld was an unsafe environment for everyone there and was wildly unequipped to handle the situation that took place.

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