Chuck D Defends Travis Scott Over Astroworld Tragedy
Chuck D has issued an open letter defending Travis Scott and accusing concert promoter LiveNation of “diverting its most important responsibility” in the wake of the Astroworld tragedy.
Earlier this month, 10 people were killed and hundreds were injured during a mass crash during a mass crash during Scott’s headline set at the Astroworld festival.
In the wake of the disaster, Scott has been named a defendant in several lawsuits, including one on behalf of 282 clients, seeking $2 billion in damages.
In a statement shared across social media, Chuck D said: “Travis Scott is an artist, not a concert promoter. He doesn’t produce stages or coordinate logistics, he doesn’t specialize in crowd control or security or emergency medical services. But he’s seen on LiveNation and There is trust in all the other concert promoters who are going to do all this.”
The statement continued, “I am tired of my most important responsibility from these corporations. This recklessness cannot continue. The public wants answers. I am not buying the Young Black Man. He should be convicted of a crime.” While old white men are running the core… Shut up in the shadows, count your money and watch your stock prices go up and up.”
“The excuse of Scott’s irresponsible actions doesn’t wash away. If his act had a history of that behavior why promote him to bigger venues? Why partner with him in the first place?”
The Public Enemy frontman then accused LiveNation of silencing others who wanted to speak in Scott’s defense. “Live Nation controlled the show. They control almost all the concerts. No one can say a word against them unless they want to get blacklisted and damage their careers.
He then called on the entire team of LiveNation “and a consortium of all the major concert promoters to do the right thing. Step up and move out of the shadows to fix these situations and save lives. Blame a Young Black Man, Hate, to prevent the collapse.”
“We don’t know everything about what happened or what exactly failed. But concert promoters have all the power to make changes to keep everyone safe and alive,” he said.
The CEO of Paradox, the medical company appointed by Astroworld, also spoke about the tragedy of the overcrowding, saying that their staff faced the “impossible achievement” of treating 11 people with cardiac arrest at the same time. He also said that this is something he would have “nightmares for the rest”. [his] Life.”
In the days following the incident, Houston Police Chief Troy Finer said he had “expressed concerns” to Scott about safety at the event in the days before Astroworld, while Houston Fire Chief Samuel Pea claimed that Scott should have stopped the show earlier but also added: “I’m not ready to say that he was fully aware of what was happening.”
