A judge declined Travis Scott’s motion to dismiss the hundreds of lawsuits stemming from his 2021 deadly Astroworld festival, meaning the rapper will now have to face his first civil trial next month.
Several others named in the lawsuit, including Drake, Epic Records, and more have successfully been dismissed, and Scott’s lawyers attempted to follow suit, claiming that he was not responsible for safety at the event, as security at live events is “not the job of performing artists.” His attorneys argued that although the event was held under Scott’s name and branding, he is merely an onstage performer.
According to the Associated Press, Noah Wexler, an attorney for the family of Astroworld victim Madison Dubiski, argued against this claim, noting that Scott demonstrated a “conscious disregard for safety.” Wexler alleged the rapper encouraged non-ticket holders to break into the venue and ignored organizers when they alerted him of the dangers and attempted to stop the performance.
Houston Judge Kristen Hawkins issued a one-page order denying Scott’s request that he and his touring company XX Global be dropped from the case, AP reports, which ultimately means he could be held civilly responsible for the 10 deaths that occurred during the show on November 5, 2021.
Scott must now face his first civil trial on May 6. This is the first among hundreds stemming from the festival. In a suit filed last year, representing 17 concert attendees that suffered personal injuries and emotional trauma from the music festival, Scott, promoter Live Nation, rapper Drake, Apple, and ASM Global LLC are named among the 11 defendants. The plaintiffs are seeking $1 million, claiming negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and negligent hinting, training, supervision, and retention.
Judge Hawkins’ ruling follows bombshell news that organizers had doubts about the festival’s capacity before the event. According to new filings obtained by the Houston Landing, the event’s safety director Seyth Boardman told the festival’s operations director he was worried about cramming so many people in front of the main stage to see Scott perform, noting, “I feel like there is no way we are going to fit 50k in front of that stage.”
Reports also found serious issues with the site plan; an employee of the event production company BWG settled on a site plan that made room for 44,000 people in the general viewing area, plus 3,500 in a VIP area. However, if they had used the correct seven square feet per person standard, they would have known the site plan had capacity for 32,000 people in general admission and 2,500 people in a VIP pen, which marks a whopping 15,500 short of ticketed attendance.
One of the most staggering statements regarding the safety of the festival was made by a festival dispatcher in the command center just minutes before Scott took the stage.
“I would pull the plug but that’s just me,” the dispatcher wrote in a message that was just made public last year. “Someone’s going to end up dead.”
