IMO: The Astroworld Tragedy

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On November 5th, 2021 8 people died during the Astroworld concert in Houston, Texas because of the incompetence of the rapper Travis Scott. The event had much excitement brewing around it, however even before it began things already seemed to be spelling out disaster. An entire two months before the event was supposed to happen the Houston City Fire Chief, Patrick Lancton, was twice denied access to inspect the safety of the Astroworld venue.

This isn’t the first time fans have been injured at one of Travis Scott’s concerts. On April 30th, 2017, a 2 year old named Kyle Green was paralyzed after he was pushed off a third story balcony. Green’s attorney said that Kyle was, “extremely upset and sad for the devastation to these people and to their families–the people who were killed and the people who were horribly injured.”

Clearly, this isn’t the first time Travis Scott overlooked safety features that would make sure his fans have the lowest chance in getting hurt. Along with the lack of proper safety features, Scott made a poor choice in security. Members of the crowd managed to sneak in drugs and then began injecting them into random people, including the security teams themselves. A non-consenting security officer told police officers that he felt a prick and, after an examination, the Houston Police Chief, Troy Finner, confirmed that, “The medical staff did notice a prick that was similar to a prick that you would get if somebody was trying to inject.”

If Travis overlooking safety features and having poor security seemed like the end of it, it isn’t. Despite multiple ambulances frantically helping people in the crowd as well as police officers trying to help, Scott’s disregard for human life showed when he began doing the robot as large members of the crowd panicked and the injured were being looked after and carried away.

All in all, the blame should go on Travis Scott. It was his event to run and just like his other events, he cared more about the publicity when he should have been caring about people. Concert goers should at least be able to assume safety and that they would not be trampled to death.