In another unfortunate twist of fate since the fatal Astroworld concert in Houston several months ago, rapper Travis Scott, who is at the center of the tragedy, has been dropped by the perfume company Dior.
Videos by American Songwriter
According to Women’s Wear Daily, Dior announced that it has paused indefinitely a “capsule collection” collaboration between Dior men’s artistic director Kim Jones and Scott’s Cactus Jack label, which was due out next year.
The partnership was to be Dior’s first with a musician.
Dior said in a statement, “Out of respect for everyone affected by the tragic events at Astroworld, Dior has decided to postpone indefinitely the launch of products from the Cactus Jack collaboration originally intended to be included in its summer 2022 collection.”
According to Rolling Stone, immediately after the Astroworld events, a Dior staffer reportedly said they were “very concerned” with the news.
The indefinite Dior postponement is the second significant branding deal Scott has lost in a matter of weeks. Weeks ago, Anheuser-Busch announced it will no longer distribute Scott’s Cacti line of hard seltzers.
Said a representative for the beer company then, “Travis was clear in his interview that he is not focused on business right now and his priority is helping his community and fans heal.”
Sadly, there are more, too: Epic Games has removed the “Travis Scott emote” from their massive online game, Fortnite; Parsons School of Design pulled out of their contract with Scott’s Cactus Jack Design Center, and Nike postponed Air Max 1 x Cactus Jack collaboration.
Also, Scott had been effectively removed from the 2022 Coachella lineup (which he was slated to headline).
Whether Scott should be taking the brunt of the fallout from the event, though, remains in question. The degree to which a person on stage is responsible for the safety of all of the tens of thousands of fans in the audience remains unclear. And the degree to which security or festival organizers will be held accountable—not Scott, himself—is also yet unanswered.
Earlier this month, in his first public interview since the events, speaking with radio and talk show host Charlamagne tha God, Scott, who has denied legal liability, expressed remorse and tried to explain his side of the experience from on stage. It was Scott’s first public interview since the events that took place in Houston.
“It really hurts,” Scott said. “It hurts the community, it hurts the city [Houston, where Scott is from]. It’s a lot of feelings, a lot of grieving.”
He added that he “didn’t know the exact details until minutes before the press conference,” after the concert.
“People pass out, things happen at concerts, but something like that,” he said, not completing the sentence.
Scott said his visibility was limited on stage but, he explained, “Anytime I could see anything like that, I did. I stopped it a couple times to just make sure everybody was OK.”
Scott has been named in nearly 300 lawsuits associated with the Astroworld events. He and other defendants like Live Nation, the promoter ScoreMore, the venue NRG Park and security companies have all denied the allegations against them.
