A lawsuit seeking more than $750 million was filed Tuesday on behalf of at least 125 Astroworld victims, including 21-year-old Axel Acosta, who was killed at the show.
The crowd surge at rapper Travis Scott’s Houston festival left 10 people dead and many more injured. Dozens of lawsuits against Scott and Live Nation Entertainment Inc. have since been filed.
The suit, filed by Buzbee Law Firm, also list the rapper Drake, who had joined Scott halfway through his Astroworld set, and Apple Music, which was streaming the festival, as defendants, among others.
“The victims on that night went to Astroworld for fun,” the suit said. “Neither they nor their families were ever warned that they were walking into an extremely dangerous situation.”
Acosta “was crushed by the incited, unruly and out-of-control crowd with such force that he could no longer breathe,” according to the suit. He went into cardiac arrest, and was then trampled.
“As he lay there under a mass of humanity, dying, the music played and streamed on — for almost forty minutes,” the suit said. Acosta died on the scene.
The suit accuses Scott, whose real name is Jacques Bermon Webster II, of keeping the concert going even after authorities had announced a mass casualty event. Other suits have alleged the same, and Houston’s fire chief, Samuel Peña, said that Scott “absolutely” should have stopped the show once he saw what was taking place.
“Look: We all have a responsibility. Everybody at that event has a responsibility, starting from the artist on down,” he said last week.
His litigation attorney, Edwin McPherson has said, “Travis Scott didn’t know that there was a mass casualty event that was called.”
“Nobody told him, nobody told his crew. When finally somebody communicated something to his crew that this was the last song that was about 10:10, Travis said ‘OK, last song’ and he stopped it when he was told to stop it,” McPherson said.
Scott said in an Instagram story a day after the tragedy that he was “devastated” by what took place. He has offered to pay for the funerals of the 10 people who died and refund tickets for all attendees.
“Such [an] offer is a transparent and grotesque effort of the Defendants to limit their liability, after the fact, to the families of those killed or injured,” the Buzbee lawsuit said. “The Acosta family would rather Webster have privately spent money on proper planning, adequate security and medical staff before the concert, instead of publicly stating that he would pay for the funerals of those that were crushed and killed.”
The suit, like many that came before it, also noted that Scott has an alleged history of encouraging violence at his shows through his lyrics and habit of encouraging crowds to ignore security and rush the stage. It pointed out that Scott told GQ that he wants his concerts to feel like a World Wrestling Federation match.
The suit also recounts the case of Kyle Green, who was paralyzed at a Travis Scott concert in New York City in 2017. Scott can be heard on video encouraging fans to jump from a third-floor balcony, ensuring them that other fans would catch them. Green has said he did not jump, but was pushed and landed on the floor.
Scott did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding this specific suit. Live Nation, Drake, Apple and other defendants also did not respond to NBC News.
Diana Dasrath contributed.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
