Rapper Travis Scott is making a legal push to have his name removed from the ongoing civil litigation concerning the Astroworld Festival tragedy that occurred back in 2021, when a crowd surge led to the deaths of 10 concertgoers, according to court documents. Scott's attorneys filed a motion for summary judgment earlier this week, arguing the Houston native was merely the performer, not accountable for crowd management and safety; in legal paperwork obtained by the Houston Chronicle, they state, "Performers are not expected to render special protection to the audience, nor to safeguard them from the rest of the crowd."
The legal maneuver follows similar attempts by other entities like Apple and fellow rapper Drake to get out from under the avalanche of lawsuits, Harris County 11th Civil District Court is set to start hearing these arguments next week even as debate swirls around who's ultimately responsible for the deadly bottleneck that took place shortly before Scott took the stage, one court filing even showed expert testimony warning about above-standard crowd density before the event, and safety professionals Seyth and Shawna Boardman express their concerns over the escalating situation during the actual event, in a text exchange obtained by KPRC 2 Investigates, Shawna Boardman wrote, "Stage right of main is getting crushed. This is bad." and added, "Pull tons over the rail unconscious. There's panic in people's eyes. This could get worse quickly."
Despite Scott conceiving the event as an homage to Houston's former amusement park and acknowledging his role in arranging acts and marketing, the motion argues he wasn't responsible for venue security or layout, a point reinforced by separate motions from Scott's record company, Cactus Jack Records, asserting plaintiffs' attorneys showed "no evidence" tying them to the festival's mishaps; this is while Shawna Boardman, during the disaster's unfolding, thought to articulate a chilling prediction in her texts, saying, "I would pull the plug, but that's just me," and, "Someone's going to end up dead," her depositions revealing the depth of foreboding those involved felt as the night unraveled.
Detailing the chaotic efforts to halt the show as conditions deteriorated, Seyth Boardman, the Safety and Risk Director for Astroworld Festival, described to attorneys the improvements made to the venue layout, including widened pathways and removed attractions to ease crowding, but the situation escalated and led to his conversation with a man known as Bizzy who could speak directly to Scott, Boardman said in an interview, "[H]e said something to the effect of, we gotta shut this down. We got people dying out there," yet amid the urgency, concerns arose that an abrupt stop could provoke riots or stampedes, forcing those in charge to navigate the delicate balance between safety and further chaos; these are juxtaposed against survivor accounts like Ayden Cruz's harrowing experience, telling KPRC 2 Investigates, "So I prayed to [God] and asked for, you know, a second chance...and I prayed over my girlfriend."
Last year, none of the individuals including Travis Scott faced indictment on criminal charges by a Harris County grand jury, while the lawsuits continue to draw out the complexities surrounding the fatal event, trying to pinpoint accountability amidst a myriad of contracts, roles, and last-minute decisions of that fateful night when fans like Cruz's friend Brianna Rodriguez were caught in the lethal surge; this all unfolded in the backdrop of Houston Police reports that indicate the concert ended before 9:30 pm, yet it would extend far longer before emergency responders managed to gain control over the crisis.
