The events of Astroworld were tragic, and Travis Scott and his team are to blame. Scott’s negligent actions and disregard for the safety and health of his fans directly resulted in countless injuries and even death, something an Instagram story apology with the black and white filter can’t fix.

On November 5th, fans of Travis Scott swarmed the entrances of the Astroworld Festival, stampeding security and knocking over both equipment and people alike. The rowdy crowd of 50,000 would soon result in hundreds injured and in critical condition as well as 8 concertgoers dead, two of them being teenagers aged 14 and 16.

Let it be known, Scott is notorious for encouraging violent and reckless behavior at his concerts. From telling fans to beat up someone in the crowd to urging people to sneak into concerts and bypass security. Additionally, Scott has been charged twice before with disorderly conduct at festivals, once in 2015 after he urged fans to climb over barricades at Chicago’s Lollapalooza and again in 2017 after encouraging fans to join him on stage during a concert in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Scott’s prior actions did nothing but encourage and enable the dangerous actions of his fans, entitling them to the idea this kind of conduct is okay.

Speaking of crowds, a common argument was that Scott was unable to do anything to control crowds. However, following the events that Friday, a video of Linkin Park went viral that showed the rock band stopping their show in order to help fans in the mosh pit (which mind you, consists of people “raging” a lot harder than any Travis Scott fan). The video ends with the late Chester Bennington reminding the crowd to help any one that falls, asking the crowd, “Let’s go over it one more time… when someone falls, what do you do?” to which they chanted back, “Pick him up!” Several more examples have cropped up since then, but the message remains the same- these deaths were preventable if Scott would have stepped in.

The events at the Astroworld Festival are sickening to learn about, but even more traumatic to live through. Hundreds have stepped forward on social media to detail their accounts of suffocating in a mass of bodies, witnessing people being trampled to death, and fighting for their life in the pit- all while screaming at the top of their lungs for help and for Scott to stop the show.

Scott and his team are wholly responsible for the events that occurred at the Astroworld Festival, and those in attendance as well as the families of the deceased deserve justice.