Entertainment
Travis Scott ‘warned about Astroworld crowd by Houston police chief’ before deadly surge
Travis Scott was reportedly warned about the crowd before he performed at his Astroworld festival on Friday (Picture: Getty)
Travis Scott was reportedly warned about the crowd at his Astroworld festival moment before fans were killed and injured during a fatal crowd surge.
Eight people, one as young as 14, died and dozens more were injured after fans were crushed when the crowd surged towards the stage in Houston, Texas.
According to The New York Post, Houston Police Chief Troy Finner visited the rapper in his trailer to ‘voice his concerns’ about the crowd.
The publication claims that the police chief, who knows the rapper personally, had spoken to the Sicko Mode hitmaker about ‘very devoted fans’ that had amassed for the Friday show at NRG Park.
The report comes after footage and social media posts trawled by the Houston Chronicle indicated people began collapsing by 9.38pm, nearly 40 minutes after Scott came onstage.
Scott’s promoter quickly agreed to stop the show yet the 30-year-old rapper, real name Jacques Berman Webster II, appeared to keep playing till the end of his 75-minute set, at 10.15pm, the newspaper reported.
At least eight people died, with around 300 injured after the crowd surged forward during the rapper’s set (Picture: Alex Bierens de Haan/Getty Images)
According to the Washington Post, people in a tightly packed section of crowd could be heard shouting ‘help … please help’ in a clip filmed at 9.12pm – over an hour before the performance finished.
Houston’s fire chief, Samuel Peña, later told a press conference that the crowd had begun to ‘compress towards the front of the stage’, causing some injuries, by 9.15pm.
Travis stopped his set on several occasions to point out fans in need of help, but performed for 40 minutes after the surge led to a deadly crowd crush (Picture: Erika Goldring/WireImage)
Staff allegedly ignored fans who begged them to halt the performance, including some who climbed onto raised platforms to point out the injured to camera operators as early as 9.30pm.
The Highest in the Room rapper did stop the music several times during his set after spotting fans who had ‘passed out’ or were in distress and asking security to help them out.
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It’s since been reported Scott and guest performer Drake are being sued for $1,000,000 (£741,000) over the ‘preventable’ stampede.
Neither Scott nor Drake have commented on the lawsuits.
The rapper, who is expecting his second child with Kylie Jenner, shared a statement of his sorrow about the tragedy on Saturday.
More: US Showbiz news
Around 300 were treated for injuries at the festival after the crowd began to compress towards the stage when Scott was performing, emergency officials said.
Meanwhile, family members of the victims have begun to publicly pay tribute to their loved ones who died while Scott performed his set at NRG Park.
Metro.co.uk has reached out to Travis’ reps for comment.
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