Earlier this summer, Travis Scott settled his third lawsuit with a family who had a relative die at his 2021 Astroworld Festival, which claimed 10 total lives. Additionally, he was also cleared of any criminal wrongdoing in the case, as he “is not responsible for the AstroWorld tragedy,” his attorney Kent Schaffer told American Songwriter in a statement.
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However, though he’s been able to settle out of court for three of the 10 casualties that happened during the crown surge in Houston two Novembers ago, Scott still has to go through civil hearings for over 1,500 more suits filed by festival attendees. Directed at both him and the Astroworld promoter/organizer Live Nation, the first trial from the lawsuits is set to begin in May 2024. In preparation for the trial, Scott had his first questioning on Monday (September 18) in his hometown of Houston, which sources say lasted eight hours.
“Travis Scott’s deposition is typical legal procedure. What is not typical is how the media continues to focus on him despite being cleared of any wrongdoing by extensive government investigations, including by the Houston Police Department,” Scott’s spokesperson Ted Anastasiou said in a statement obtained by Billboard. “Travis is fully cooperating with the legal process while still remaining committed to his tour in support of his record-breaking album, Utopia, and his charitable efforts to support at-risk communities.”
Additional reporting from Billboard revealed that, of the 1,500 suits filed by survivors and families of attendees, 992 were for “cases with physical injuries” and 313 were for cases of “emotional distress, pain, suffering and mental anguish.”
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In regards to the tour Anastasiou mentioned above, Scott is set to embark on his 39-date, nationwide Utopia Circus Maximus Tour on October 11 in Charlotte, North Carolina, as it will include some of his first large-scale performances since the Astroworld catastrophe. At first, Scott was meant to make a stop in Houston for a show on the tour, but after the local police union petitioned for the show to be nixed, he will instead only be performing in Austin and Dallas.
“This is outrageous and the HPOU will be calling for all of our elected officials to stand up and say, ‘Not in our city, not again!’” Houston Police Department union president Douglas Griffith said in a statement before the tour was announced.
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