Travis Scott will not face criminal charges in Astroworld deaths

It’s been nearly two years since 10 people died during a crowd surge at Travis Scott’s Astroworld Festival, and the Houston Chronicle is reporting (via Variety) that a grand jury has decided that he will not face criminal charges. That being said, he still faces a number of civil claims accusing him of negligence that led to wrongful deaths and countless injuries. One civil suit, filed on behalf of 282 plaintiffs, was seeking $2 billion from Scott, fellow performer Drake, organizer Live Nation, and sponsor Apple. Late last year, we heard that the families of two victims had settled their suits—with all of the details remaining undisclosed.

The initial incident happened in October of 2021 at Scott’s Astroworld in Houston, when a surge in the crowd of 50,000 attendees caused a panic. Three minors died, including nine-year-old Ezra Blount, who was sitting on his father’s shoulders when the crowd surged, causing his father to pass out and fall to the ground. In the wake of the tragedy, reports came out suggesting that staff at Astroworld were not adequately prepared for this kind of situation, to the point that a training document did not have a specific plan in place for exactly the kind of stampede that happened at the festival.

The document also reportedly explained that only the festival’s director and executive producer had the authority to end it early, which may be way that concert continued even after security knew that people in the crowd had died, though Houston’s police chief claimed at the time that ending early would’ve just made things worse. Later, though it didn’t go over well with everyone, Scott—through this lawyer—offered to pay for the funerals of everyone who died at Astroworld. Lawyers involved argued that the offer was more about “trying to less the public outcry” than remorse.