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.

First of all, I want to say that I acknowledge the deaths that happened at the Astroworld concert and I do sincerely feel bad for the families who have lost loved ones. Additionally, I want to point out that I do not agree with what happened or think that what happened was okay. My argument is simply people should not be blaming Travis Scott for these tragedies.

The fans were acting insane. I get it. I enjoy listening to some of Travis Scott’s music. But, some of the videos I saw of the fans flooding through the security gates were extremely obnoxious. They were so deranged that security just could not handle all of them.

Before the concert even started, you could tell there were going to be too many people and not enough officials to enforce rules. This tragedy was unpreventable way before people had begun to even hear Travis Scott sing. People were blind to recognizing what was going to happen and when it did, it was too late.

Travis Scott was giving a performance. How could he be responsible for knowing that people were dying in the crowd? Yes, he might have been singing right over the mass area of people, but it is not his fault for not stopping the show. Obviously, if there were too many people trampling the bodies that were lying on the ground, then how could he have been able to see them? And, what would’ve happened if the show had stopped? Fans could’ve gotten even rowdier and could’ve still not had noticed the tons of people that were in need of help.

I understand that no one could have expected things to get that bad. I bet no one expected that many people to be in some confined space to the point where people would not be able to move or breathe. But I especially don’t think anyone could have predicted this severe of a situation. I don’t think Travis Scott could have prevented it and even if he tried to stop it, it was already too late.

Honestly, I think it was the fan’s fault. They were acting crazy before and during the concert. They are to blame. Now, there were some fans who were trying to get help. There were some fans that were trying to get Scott’s and security guards’ attention. Those aren’t the fans I am blaming. I am blaming the fans that were allegedly injecting drugs into people. I’m talking about the fans that didn’t realize what was going on and carried on jamming to Scott’s performance. I’m talking about the fans who failed to notice that people were stuck on the ground and they just continued to trample on top of them. Those are the fans I’m blaming.