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Victims of the Astroworld music festival want their looming trial against Travis Scott, Live Nation and other organizers to be livestreamed to the public, citing a public demand for “transparency and accountability.”
After more than two years of litigation over the 2021 crowd crush at the Astroworld — a disaster that left 10 dead and hundreds injured — the first jury trial is set to kick off early next month. It will be a pivotal first test for hundreds of other lawsuits filed by alleged victims that claim the organizers were legally negligent in how they planned and operated the festival.
In a motion on Thursday (April 25), lawyers for the plaintiffs in the upcoming trial argued that it should be broadcast live on the internet, saying such a step was needed to “ensure that all those affected by the Astroworld tragedy can observe the proceedings and stay informed of the trial’s progress.”
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“The devastating scale of the events at Astroworld, combined with the involvement of high-profile defendants, has generated significant national attention and a legitimate public demand for transparency and accountability,” the plaintiffs’ lawyers write. “By livestreaming the trial, the Court will demonstrate its commitment to open and accessible proceedings, fostering public trust and confidence in the judicial system’s handling of this consequential matter.”
A ruling opening up her courtroom to cameras would be a major shift for the judge overseeing the Astroworld litigation. Back in 2022, citing the risk that potential jurors might become biased, Judge Kristen Hawkins imposed an unusually strong gag order that has severely limited public knowledge about the status of the case.
Media outlets like ABC challenged Judge Hawkins’ gag order, arguing that it was depriving the public of information about important judicial proceedings over a newsworthy event. But a Texas appeals court upheld the media ban last year without explanation.
Hundreds of lawsuits have been filed over the deadly crowd crush during Scott’s Nov. 5, 2021, headlining set at Astroworld. The cases, collectively seeking billions in damages, claim that organizers bear legal responsibility for the disaster because of poor safety planning and failure to stop the show after problems had been reported.
The lawsuits have spent much of the last two years in discovery, as the two sides exchanged information and took depositions of key figures. But now the first trial in the massive litigation — over a wrongful death case filed by the family of Madison Dubiski, a 23-year-old who died at Astroworld — is set to start on May 6.
In seeking to have that trial aired live, attorneys for Dubiski’s family argued that it was “impractical” for everyone involved in the litigation to attend the proceedings physically: “There are hundreds of plaintiffs and their family members, numerous defendants, and a multitude of counsel to account for.”
But they also hinted that they think the judge might have doubts about broadcasting the trial. The recording would be “conducted unobtrusively, with minimal disruption to the trial process,” the plaintiffs’ lawyers said, and the judge will have the ability to “pause or terminate the broadcast if necessary to preserve order or to protect sensitive information.” And witnesses would be sequestered and required not to watch the stream “to safeguard the fairness and impartiality of the proceedings.”
The judge will presumably rule on the motion in the next week before the trial gets underway.
A Houston judge has denied Travis Scott’s motion to be dismissed from sprawling litigation over the 2021 disaster at the Astroworld music festival ahead of a looming jury trial next month.
Scott’s attorneys had argued that the star himself could not be held legally liable for the deadly crowd crush during his the November 2021 performance, which killed 10 and injured hundreds. They argued that safety and security at live events is “not the job of performing artists.”
But in a ruling made public on Wednesday, Judge Kristen Hawkins denied that motion, leaving Scott on the hook to face the first jury trial in the case, set to kick off next month. She offered no written rationale for her ruling, and attorneys for Scott did not return a request for comment.
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More than 2,500 people have sued over Astroworld – a popular festival headlined and marketed by the Houston-native Scott that turned deadly in 2021. Collectively seeking billions in potential damages, the victims claim that Scott (real name Jacques Bermon Webster II), Live Nation and other organizers were legally negligent in how they planned the event.
The lawsuits, combined into one single large action in Texas state court in Houston, have spent much of the last two years in discovery, as the two sides exchange information and take depositions of key figures. Scott was deposed in October, facing questioning from plaintiffs attorneys for roughly eight hours, according to the Associated Press.
The first trial in the massive litigation – a wrongful death case filed by family of Madison Dubiski, a 23-year-old who died at Astroworld – is set to start on May 6.
With that trial date looming, many of the defendants have pushed to be dismissed from the case. Drake (Aubrey Graham), who was named in many of the lawsuits because he appeared on stage as a guest performer during Scott’s deadly show, was dismissed earlier this month.
Scott’s attorneys argued last month that he too should not be held liable for the tragic incident. Even though the event was promoted under Scott’s name and branding, his lawyers said that he was merely an onstage performer who was not responsible for ensuring audience safety.
“Like any other adrenaline-inducing diversion, music festivals must balance exhilaration with safety and security—but that balance is not the job of performing artists, even those involved in promoting and marketing performances,” wrote Scott’s attorney Daniel Petrocelli. “Which only makes sense: Performing artists, even those who engage in certain promotional activities, have no inherent expertise or specialized knowledge in concert safety measures, venue security protocols, or site-design.”
At a hearing over that motion last week, attorneys for Dubiski’s family pushed back on Scott’s arguments, saying he had a “conscious disregard for safety.”
As reported by the Associated Press, the victim’s attorneys argued that Scott had encouraged fans to break into the concert without a ticket, citing a tweet on the day of the concert in which he said “we still sneaking the wild ones in.” They also said he had create unsafe crowd flow conditions by insisting that Scott be the only musical act to use the main stage on the festival’s first day, and then ignored orders from festival organizers to stop the concert when conditions turned dangerous.
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A Texas judge has dismissed Drake from an impending civil lawsuit related to the deaths that occurred at Travis Scott’s Astroworld festival two and a half years ago.
The judge overseeing the Astroworld trial has granted Drake’s request to be dropped as a defendant in response to a request from his legal representation. The decision was recently made by Harris County Judge Kristen Hawkins. Judge Hawkins also dropped Epic Records, Travis Scott’s record label, as a defendant in the upcoming trial in addition to several other companies that were named. Travis Scott, however, had his request to be dismissed denied and will remain a defendant along with his Cactus Jack Enterprises group, LeFlame Enterprises, Front Gate Ticketing Solutions, Apex Security Group, Apple Inc., Sascha Stone Guttfreund, Valle Services and Valle Security Texas who were involved in the planning of the festival.
Drake had requested to be dismissed on the basis that he was a guest of Scott. The Her Loss rapper was onstage with Scott at the festival, which took place at NRG Park in Scott’s hometown of Houston, Texas. Shortly afterward, the crowd surged crushing numerous individuals in an attempt to be closer to the stage. Ten people – including a 9-year-old child – lost their lives as a result, with many more claiming various injuries. The main lawsuit came about as a consolidation of multiple individual lawsuits that were filed after the incident.
The civil trial is expected to commence next month. There will be no criminal trial against Scott after a grand jury decided to “no bill” on all counts based on the evidence presented to them last summer. “While we are incredibly disappointed that Mr. Travis Scott will not be indicted on charges stemming from the senseless tragedies and chaos that occurred at Astroworld, we are undeterred and will continue fighting every day on behalf of the hundreds of injury victims – who simply intended to attend a concert for a night of fun – to ensure responsible parties are held accountable in the ongoing pursuit of justice,” said Kevin Haynes, a lawyer representing some of the victims at the time.
Travis Scott is asking to be dismissed from the sprawling litigation over the 2021 disaster at the Astroworld music festival, arguing that safety and security at live events is “not the job of performing artists.”
More than 2,500 people have sued over Astroworld, which left 10 dead and hundreds injured after a crowd crush during Scott’s Nov. 5 show. They claim Scott (real name Jacques Bermon Webster II), Live Nation and other organizers were legally negligent in how they planned the event, and are collectively seeking billions in damages.
But in a motion filed Monday in Houston court, Scott’s attorneys (led by prominent litigator Daniel Petrocelli) argue that the rapper himself cannot be held liable for the tragic incident. Even though the event was promoted under Scott’s name and branding, his lawyers say that he was merely an onstage performer who is not responsible for ensuring audience safety.
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“Like any other adrenaline-inducing diversion, music festivals must balance exhilaration with safety and security—but that balance is not the job of performing artists, even those involved in promoting and marketing performances,” Petrocelli wrote. “Which only makes sense: Performing artists, even those who engage in certain promotional activities, have no inherent expertise or specialized knowledge in concert safety measures, venue security protocols, or site-design.”
And even if Scott could be theoretically held liable because of his involvement as a promotor, his lawyers say the evidence shows that he did enough to avoid any claims of negligence or other wrongdoing – arguing that he “acted diligently to protect against every reasonably apprehensible danger.”
“When, during festival planning, concerns arose about the risk of a stampede occurring in the festival site, the Scott defendants supported festival organizers’ efforts to eliminate that risk by agreeing to remove certain rides and other attractions at the site,” Petrocelli writes. “Then, when the Scott defendants were told to end the show after Mr. Scott’s guest performer finished performing, they did just that—ending the show as directed.”
The lawsuits over Astroworld, combined into one single large action in Texas state court in Houston, have spent much of the last two years in discovery, as the two sides exchange information and take depositions of key figures. Scott was deposed in October, facing questioning from plaintiffs attorneys for roughly eight hours, according to the Associated Press.
The first trial in the massive litigation is currently scheduled to start on May 6, according to court records.
With that trial date looming, many of the defendants named in the case are currently asking to be dismissed from the litigation. Earlier this month, a similar request was filed by Drake (Aubrey Graham), who was named in many of the lawsuits because he appeared on stage as a guest performer during Scott’s deadly show.
“Mr. Graham did not receive any security briefings, was not informed of any crowd control issues, injuries or deaths in the crowd, or any stop show orders at any time either before or during his 14-minute performance,” Drake’s lawyers wrote at the time.
In his motion on Monday, Scott makes similar arguments. He says that his involvement in planning was limited to “creative control” and marketing, and that he and his team were “neither responsible for nor involved in the approval of venue security, safety, or site layout decisions.”
“No one disputes that tragedy struck the Astroworld Festival,” Petrocelli wrote. “But promoting and performing at a concert do not equate to the power to control a crowd or to design a venue safely. Basic tort principles prevent imposing liability on the Scott defendants for a tragedy arising from forces legally controlled by others.”
Drake is pushing to be dismissed from the sprawling litigation over the 2021 disaster at Travis Scott‘s Astroworld festival, arguing that he had nothing to do with planning the deadly event and can’t be sued for simply showing up for a brief guest appearance.
More than 2,500 people have sued over the 2021 Astroworld event during which a crowd of fans rushed toward the stage during Scott’s Nov. 5 performance, leaving 10 dead and hundreds injured. Though the lawsuits mainly target Scott, Live Nation and other organizers, Drake was also named as a defendant in some cases because he appeared on stage during Scott’s deadly performance.
But in a motion filed Friday (Mar. 8) in Houston court, attorneys for Drake (real name Aubrey Drake Graham) argued that the star should not be involved in the case at all. They said he had no involvement in Astroworld beyond being asked to take the stage — and that festival organizers had “confirmed under oath that Mr. Graham was not involved in any planning.”
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They also say that Drake was unaware of any safety problems before he took the stage. “Mr. Graham did not receive any security briefings, was not informed of any crowd control issues, injuries or deaths in the crowd, or any stop show orders at any time either before or during his 14-minute performance.”
Instead, they say that Drake merely “arrived at the venue at approximately 7:30 PM and remained largely secluded backstage in a trailer until approximately 9:54 PM,” at which time he was “informed to take the stage.” The star then “immediately took the stage as requested, performed for approximately 14 minutes, and then exited the stage at 10:08 PM.”
The lawsuits over Astroworld claim that organizers were legally negligent in how they planned and conducted the event, including by failing to provide adequate security and emergency support. The cases, combined into one single large action in Houston, are seeking billions in potential damages. Much of the last two years has been spent in discovery, as the two sides exchange information and take depositions of key figures.
In Friday’s motion, Drake’s lawyers argued that the discovery process had resulted in “hundreds of hours” of depositions and “hundreds of thousands of pages of documents,” but that none of it had established that Drake could be held liable for negligence.
“Plaintiffs produce no evidence that Mr. Graham actually knew of any risk in the Festival site design and layout, competence or adequacy of Festival staffing and personnel, or emergency procedures such as show stop authority,” his lawyers wrote.
The alleged victims, represented by an array of plaintiffs law firms, will have a chance to respond to Drake’s motion in the weeks ahead.
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Travis Scott has spoken out about the Astroworld tragedy in times past and is doing so once more in a recent interview. The Texas star explained in the chat that he was “devasted” by the aftermath of the event, which left 10 people dead and hundreds injured.
Travis Scott was profiled in a new GQ spread for its Men Of The Year, discussing his current Circus Maximus tour, his fourth studio album UTOPIA, and other topics. Of course, the Astroworld tragedy was an unavoidable topic but Cactus Jack gamely spoke to the matter at hand.
“I always think about it,” Scott said of the incident that took place in 2021. “Those fans were like my family. You know, I love my fans to the utmost.”
He added, “It has its moments where it gets rough and… yeah. You just feel for those people. And their families.”
Of the 10 victims, one was just nine years of age, and the news of the deaths sparked outrage and anger towards Scott. In his initial responses to the event, Scott showed remorse during a past interview and said he wasn’t aware of what was happening in the crowd during the performance alongside Drake.
Further, the crowd was way over capacity, and there was not enough logistical support in place to help control the situation. While Travis Scott was not charged, he is still named in a series of civil lawsuits, numbering over 1,500.
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Photo: Getty
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Travis Scott is going back on the road, as he’s announced a new tour almost two years after the Astroworld tragedy.
The UTOPIA rapper broke the news through a post made on Tuesday (August 29th) through his Instagram account. The caption to the post bearing an NSFW image was brief, beginning with “UTOPIA Tour” and relating that tickets sales for the tour would begin at 10 A.M. on Thursday (August 31st) before adding his website and ending off with “Hsbsdbbddbsbsnsjsbdnd”.
The UTOPIA Circus Maximus Tour (inspired by his recent Rome concert) will kick off in the fall, beginning at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina on October 11th. It will then cover most of North America, with the largest headlining date projected to be at the SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, California on November 5th. The tour will conclude at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Canada on December 29th. Tickets can be purchased at the website, and Live Nation said that $2 from each sale will be donated to Scott’s Cactus Jack Foundation, a nonprofit aimed towards enriching the lives of youths in the Houston area.
One noticeable feature of the tour is that while there are two stops in Texas (Dallas on October 17th and Austin on November 21st), there is no tour date in Houston, Travis Scott’s hometown. Sylvester Turner, the mayor of Houston, had previously issued a statement earlier this month saying that Scott and the promotion team had “booked the Toyota Center for a concert in October.” Mayor Turner also said that the city expected the concert to be like others that have occurred there. “Before (Tuesday’s) announcement, Toyota Center representatives convened meetings with public safety officials and the city’s special events office. They will continue working together to ensure this concert’s safety, not unlike the thousands of concerts held at Toyota Center each year,” it read.
The tour announcement with Live Nation comes almost two years after the tragedy at the Astroworld Festival which occurred in November 2021 where 10 people died after a massive crowd crush. Earlier this year, a grand jury in Houston decided that Scott as well as Live Nation and other organizers would not be held criminally responsible for those deaths at Astroworld. They are still contending with civil lawsuits from over 400 individuals stemming from the incident.
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Just moments before rap superstar Travis Scott took the stage at the deadly 2021 Astroworld festival, a contract worker had been so worried about what might happen after seeing people getting crushed that he texted an event organizer saying, “Someone’s going to end up dead,” according to a police report released Friday.
The texts by security contract worker Reece Wheeler were some of many examples in the nearly 1,300-page report in which festival workers highlighted problems and warned of possible deadly consequences. The report includes transcripts of concertgoers’ 911 calls and summaries of police interviews, including one with Scott conducted just days after the event.
The crowd surge at the Nov. 5, 2021, outdoor festival in Houston killed 10 attendees who ranged in age from 9 to 27. The official cause of death was compression asphyxia, which an expert likened to being crushed by a car. About 50,000 people attended the festival.
“Pull tons over the rail unconscious. There’s panic in people eyes. This could get worse quickly,” Reece Wheeler texted Shawna Boardman, one of the private security directors, at 9 p.m. Wheeler then texted, “I know they’ll try to fight through it but I would want it on the record that I didn’t advise this to continue. Someone’s going to end up dead.”
Scott’s concert began at 9:02 p.m. In their review of video from the concert’s livestream, police investigators said that at 9:13 p.m., they heard the faint sound of someone saying, “Stop the show.” The same request could also be heard at 9:16 p.m. and 9:22 p.m.
In an Aug. 19, 2022, police interview, Boardman’s attorneys told investigators that Boardman “saw things were not as bad as Reece Wheeler stated” and decided not to pass along Wheeler’s concerns to anyone else.
A grand jury declined to indict anyone who was investigated over the event, including Scott, Boardman and four other people.
During a police interview conducted two days after the concert, Scott told investigators that although he did see one person near the stage getting medical attention, overall the crowd seemed to be enjoying the show and he did not see any signs of serious problems.
“We asked if he at any point heard the crowd telling him to stop the show. He stated that if he had heard something like that he would have done something,” police said in their summary of Scott’s interview.
Hip-hop artist Drake, who performed with Scott at the concert, told police that it was difficult to see from the stage what was going on in the crowd and that he didn’t hear concertgoers’ pleas to stop the show.
Drake found out about the tragedy later that night from his manager, while learning more on social media, police said in their summary.
Marty Wallgren, who worked for a security consulting firm hired by the festival, told police that when he went backstage and tried to tell representatives for Scott and Drake that the concert needed to end because people had been hurt and might have died, he was told “Drake still has three more songs,” according to an interview summary.
Daniel Johary, a college student who got trapped in the crush of concertgoers and later used his skills working as an EMT in Israel to help an injured woman, told investigators hundreds of people had chanted for Scott to stop the music and that the chants could be heard “from everywhere.”
“He stated staff members in the area gave thumbs-up and did not care,” according to the police report.
Richard Rickeada, a retired Houston police officer who was working for a private security company at the festival, told investigators that from 8 a.m. the day of the concert, things were “pretty much in chaos,” according to a police summary of his interview. His concerns and questions about whether the concert should be held were “met with a lot of shrugged shoulders,” he said.
About 23 minutes into the concert, cameraman Gregory Hoffman radioed into the show’s production trailer to warn that “people were dying.” Hoffman was operating a large crane that held a television camera before it was overrun with concertgoers who needed medical help, police said.
The production team radioed Hoffman to ask when they could get the crane back in operation.
Salvatore Livia, who was hired to direct the live show, told police that following Hoffman’s dire warning, people in the production trailer understood that something was not right, but “they were disconnected to the reality of (what) was happening out there,” according to a police summary of Livia’s interview.
Concertgoer Christopher Gates, then 22, told police that by the second or third song in Scott’s performance, he came across about five people on the ground who he believed were already dead.
Their bodies were “lifeless, pale, and their lips were blue/purple,” according to the police report. Random people in the crowd — not medics — provided CPR.
The police report was released about a month after the grand jury in Houston declined to indict Scott on any criminal charges in connection with the deadly concert. Police Chief Troy Finner had said the report was being made public so that people could “read the entire investigation” and come to their own conclusions about the case. During a news conference after the grand jury’s decision, Finner declined to say what the overall conclusion of his agency’s investigation was or whether police should have stopped the concert sooner.
The report’s release also came the same day that Scott released his new album, “Utopia.”
More than 500 lawsuits were filed over the deaths and injuries at the concert, including many against concert promoter Live Nation and Scott. Some have since been settled.
The Houston Police Department released its final report on the 2021 crowd crush tragedy at Travis Scott‘s Astroworld festival on Friday (July 28). The more than 1,200-page document details the Houston PD’s investigation into the tragedy, which left 10 people dead and hundreds more physically injured. The report arrives just a month after a Houston […]
Travis Scott is back. The “Pick Up the Phone” rapper is set to launch Utopia, his first studio album in nearly five years, at the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt. He announced the livestream event through social media posts across Instagram and Twitter on Sunday (July 9). “Utopia is wherever you are,” he wrote in […]
