Travis Scott is just a couple of days removed from the release of his blockbuster studio album UTOPIA, which HitsDailyDouble predicts could sell around 450,00 copies in its debut week. However, while he hoped the album’s release and promotion would help people forget about the notorious Astroworld Festival catastrophe in November 2021, which claimed the lives of 10 attendees, it does not seem like the noise surrounding it will go away any time soon.
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The same day UTOPIA was released, Houston police who had been investigating the music festival put out a lengthy report of their findings in regard to the deaths and injuries that occurred there. Although Scott was cleared of any criminal wrongdoing in the case, HPD’s report included quotes he gave to authorities. In response to this report, Scott’s attorney Kent Schaffer gave a statement to TMZ where he rips the police, feeling like their timing was inappropriate.
“The timing of the Houston Police Department report’s release, coinciding with the launch of Travis Scott’s highly anticipated album, is anything but coincidental,” he wrote. “Travis Scott and his team were, as anticipated, fully cleared of any wrongdoing associated with the Astroworld tragedy by a grand jury based on the very report released today. It is outrageous that HPD has chosen to resort to tactics that attempt to discredit Travis and his team, casting doubt on how the unfortunate events at Astroworld actually transpired while deflecting blame from their own critical failures.
“Travis’s commitment to his audience’s safety and well-being is well-documented,” Schaffer continued. “As reported countless times, he actively stopped the show three separate times. Contrary to the HPD report’s inaccuracies, the concert did end at the exact time communicated to Travis. Meanwhile, Houston police officers present at the event did not intervene during the unfolding situation. They were observed throughout the show standing by idly, buying merch and even filming the concert in its entirety.
Just three days after Schaffer’s comments, a representative of the family who lost their 9-year-old son Ezra Blount gave a statement to DailyMail, where they scolded Schaffer and Scott for their indifference.
“For an artist making his living with music, these are stunningly tone-deaf comments about this preventable tragedy that took so many lives and injured so many,” the Blounts’ attorney Bob Hilliard told DailyMail. “This extremely detailed and damning report confirms both the negligence and extreme gross negligence of those involved, including the Travis Scott team. For Mr. Scott to allow his lawyers and spokespeople to make the reckless and untrue statement that just because he was not indicted means he’s blame-free is arrogant and insulting to the memory of 10-year-old Ezra as well as the other victims of this terrible night. Of course, they would only focus on how the report’s release date hurts their album sales instead of the facts contained inside of the report.”
Scott and his team have not responded to Hilliard and the Blounts.
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