The Astroworld Tragedy

News | Samantha Choung | Nov 11th, 2021.

On Friday, November 5, Travis Scott held his Astroworld festival in Houston, Texas. The festival quickly turned violent, and people were crushed and trampled as a crowd of roughly 50,000 people tried to push its way to the stage.

Police are still investigating the cause of the rush. Local law enforcement have heard the narrative that an individual was injecting others with drugs.

Even before the concert had started, people were pushing down metal detectors and other people in order to rush through the VIP entrance. Thirty minutes before Scott appeared on stage, a countdown timer appeared, and the people began pushing more and more aggressively towards the stage. Although a “mass casualty event” was declared as soon as 9:38 pm, the concert did not officially end until around 10:10 pm.

Eight people were killed, several are in critical condition, and hundreds more were injured. Among those hospitalized is nine-year-old Ezra Blount, who is in a coma and is fighting major organ damage and severe brain swelling.

Several videos of the concert have surfaced. Film shows the crowd chanting “Stop the show.” Other videos capture Scott addressing the crowd. In one, Scott pauses the show for a fan who passed out; in another, however, he yells “Who asked you to stop? Y’all know what y’all came to do- chase me, let’s go.” Thirty minutes before the show ended, there were several seconds of silence before Scott yelled “If everybody good, put a middle finger up in the sky” and urged the crowd to “make the ground shake.”

Scott’s concerts have been known for their chaos, and in the past, Scott has been known for inciting dangerous behavior at his shows. However, the Houston Astroworld festival crossed a line; the festival is now one of the deadliest American concerts.