Rapper Travis Scott will not face criminal charges stemming from the crowd surge that killed 10 people and injured nearly 300 at his Astroworld music festival in Houston, Tx., on Nov. 5, 2021. Scott’s attorney Kent Schaffer said a Houston grand jury declined to indict Scott but was unsure what charges may have been under consideration.
“He never encouraged people to do anything that resulted in other people being hurt,” said Schaffer, calling the decision “a great relief.” However, Scott and event organizer Live Nation still face numerous civil lawsuits from families of the deceased and others who were hurt in the crush but survived.
“It is tragic that 10 innocent people were killed while trying to enjoy an evening of music and entertainment, something many of us do routinely and without a second thought to our safety. But a tragedy isn’t always a crime, and not every death is a homicide,” District Attorney Kim Ogg said in a statement. “This grand jury’s determination has no impact on the many civil lawsuits pending.”
Schaffer claimed Scott tried to stop the show three times even though he was unaware of what was really going on in the audience at Houston’s NRG Park.
“Today’s decision by the Harris County District Attorney confirms what we have known all along — that Travis Scott is not responsible for the AstroWorld tragedy,” Schaffer said in a statement. “This is consistent with investigative reporting by numerous media outlets and federal and state government reports that have squarely placed the onus for event safety crises on organizers, operators and contractors — not performers.”
Scott has kept a low profile since the incident, performing only sporadically and appearing on only a handful of tracks with other artists. That will change with the July 21 release of his long-awaited fourth album, Utopia, his first full-length since 2018’s Astroworld.
