Alison Sullivan
On Friday, Houston’s Astroworld Festival ended in tragedy when a crowd surge led to eight deaths and over 300 injuries as people were trampled and suffocated. Rapper Travis Scott was on stage as things devolved and footage shows an ambulance trying to get through the crowd, unconscious people being surfed to help under his nose, and people attempting to warn the staff about what was happening down below. Many have been asking why Scott didn’t stop the show much, much sooner.
Fans of Scott have been defending him by saying he didn’t know what was going on and it was the responsibility of the venue and security to end the show. However, it’s not uncommon for artists to stop shows if it seems like things are getting too rowdy in the crowd or someone needs help.
A viral TikTok posted by @briannawellma shows A$AP Rocky halting his own concert after someone has fallen to the ground.
The clip is from the 2019 Rolling Loud music festival in California and shows him noticing that someone has fallen down in the crowd.
“Everybody, back up! Look! Watch out!” he yells as the music cuts. “Pick those girls up, bro! Pick the girls up! Pick the f-cking girls up, what’s wrong with y’all?”
The video moves to see some people crowding together and scrambling to stand.
A$AP continues, “Back up! Back the fuck up!”
Fans seem eager to do as their big act says, and people are helped up. This is a regular part of being a performer to big audiences. Travis Scott, however, has a history of inciting crowds, which makes the idea that he wasn’t aware of the issue difficult to believe and the idea he couldn’t have done anything even harder to believe.
