The Astroworld Festival ended in tragedy on November 5 when eight people were killed and over 300 people were hurt as the massive crowd rushed the stage. Two more people who were severely injured in the melee later died from their injuries, including 9-year-old Ezra Blount.
Consequently, multiple lawsuits have been filed against Live Nation and Travis Scott, reaching totals of over $2 billion. According to TMZ, Scott has yet another suit to handle. Two security guards who were working that day, Samuel and Jackson Bush, say they were hired by AJ Melino and Associates to work the festival. But of course, they never expected to witness the horrific scene that unfolded.
The Bush brothers claim they suffered mental and physical injuries from working the event, in particular Jackson who says he witnessed CPR being performed on lifeless bodies and later pulled a person from a crowd crush who wound up dead. The lawsuit seeking more than $1 million in damages and targets Scott, Live Nation, AJ Melino, Cactus Jack Records and more.
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Although the lawsuits are piling up, attorneys who spoke to Yahoo! Finance say the likelihood of Scott being held liable is slim to none.
“The law requires him to engage in specific conduct that incited the incidents,” Bryan Sullivan of Early Sullivan Wright Gizer & McRae told the outlet. “What did he do at Astroworld that night? That’s the question the courts will be asking.”
Nick Rozansky, a lawyer at Brutzkus Gubner Rozansky Seror Weber, added the responsibility would fall on Live Nation, Scoremore and the security company asked to work the event.
Public Enemy's Chuck D Defends Travis Scott Over Deadly Astroworld Tragedy: 'Live Nation, Your Stock Is Up'
Meanwhile, Scott’s attorney Ed McPherson maintains, “It was reported that the Operations Plan designated that only the festival director and executive producers have authority to stop the show, neither of which is part of Travis’s crew. This also runs afoul of HPD’s own previous actions when it shut down the power and sound at this very festival when the performance ran over 5 minutes back in 2019.”
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He adds, “Investigations should start proceeding over finger-pointing so that together, we can identify exactly what transpired and how we can prevent anything like this from happening again.”
Fans took their anger out on Scott and Drake in the wake of the tragedy, blasting the “SICKO MODE” rapper for continuing to perform for 37 minutes. Public Enemy powerhouse Chuck D is one of the many who came to his defense though, reminding people he’s simply the artist and it’s on Live Nation to accept culpability.
