Travis Scott, the Grammy-nominated rap artist known for chaotic concerts, faces new fallout in response to the deadly crowd surge that tragically killed eight people and injured hundreds of others attending his Astroworld Festival performance in Houston, Texas, last Friday night.
Those consequences include the disabling of a popular Travis Scott emote on the Fortnite gaming platform, as well as efforts to organize a boycott of the Houston native’s music on Spotify.
Fortnite Halts Sales of Travis Scott “Out West” Emote
This past weekend, the “Out West” emote – which features audio of Scott’s song “Out West” – was removed from the Fortnite Item Shop. The “Daily” section of the Item Shop also disappeared with little in the way of explanation.
“It’s known that the “Daily” section of the Item Shop has been disabled,” said a November 7th post from the FortniteStatus Twitter account. This is intentional and the “Daily” section will return with the next Item Shop refresh.”
According to The Verge, sales of the emote were supposed to coincide with Scott’s Astroworld appearance. But that concert ended in chaos after fans rushed the stage in what some have characterized as an overcrowded and unsafe venue. Scott has since faced criticism for allegedly allowing the show to continue. While the concert did end 30 minutes earlier than scheduled, the halt came nearly 40 minutes after Houston officials had already declared Astroworld a “mass casualty incident.”
It’s not known if Epic Games intends to disable other Travis Scott emotes available for sale on the Fortnite platform or if “Out West” might return to the shop in the future.
Former Travis Scott Fans Push for Spotify Boycott
At the same time, some of the rapper’s former fans are encouraging each other to remove Scott’s music from their Spotify playlists. According to The Daily Beast, the boycott’s advocates hope to prevent the 30-year-old artist from profiting from his newly-released songs “Escape Plan” and “Mafia.” They also want Spotify to reconsider having his photo featured on its popular playlists Rap Caviar and New Music Friday.
“I just feel physically sick listening to his music at this point,” one former fan who attended last week’s disastrous concert told The Daily Beast. “I wish that cancel culture would actually do its job and de-platform him, because everything that he’s done in his career, every choice he’s made, has led up to this moment where so many people have lost their lives.”
Travis Scott Known for Inciting Concert Crowds
According to The New York Times, Scott’s concerts routinely teeter on the edge of mayhem. As the lyrics to his 2018 hit “Stargazer” make clear — “It ain’t a mosh pit if ain’t no injuries / I got ‘em stage divin’ out of nosebleeds.” – it’s all part of his act.
Since 2015, Scott has twice been arrested for inciting crowds to rush the stage. The first incident, at Chicago’s Lollapalooza in 2015, brought his performance to a halt just five minutes after it started. The second incident occurred during a show at the Arkansas Music Pavilion in 2017 and resulted in injuries to several concert-goers and a member of the security staff.
According to The Daily Beast, Scott once even stopped a show and ordered a crowd in Switzerland to “f***k up” a concert-goer who allegedly tried to steal his shoe.
Where the Houston Astroworld Investigation Stands Now
On Wednesday, Houston Police Chief Troy Finner acknowledged that his department’s investigation of the Astroworld tragedy would “take weeks, or possibly months.” At this point, investigators are working to confirm a timeline of events.
Chief Finner also said festival organizers were informed that police were conducting CPR on victims while Scott was still performing. He later clarified in a statement that “it was at that time our HPD personnel told personnel in charge of the event to shut down the performance.” Finally, the police chief debunked reports that a private security guard had been “pricked” with an unknown substance during the concert.
“We did locate that security guard,” Finner said. “His story is not consistent with that. He said he was struck in his head and went unconscious.”
“He said no one injected drugs in him, so we want to clear that part up.”
Call 1-888-603-3636 or Click Here for a Free Consult with Our Houston Astroworld Festival Injury & Wrongful Death Lawyers
Our Houston Astroworld Festival Injury and Wrongful Death Lawyers have been hired by numerous concert-goers who were seriously hurt in the deadly crowd surge at NRG park and expect to file additional lawsuits in the coming days.
They continue to urge Astroworld victims and their families not to accept any early compensation offers from Travis Scott, Live Nation, or other Astroworld parties, including payment for funeral costs or medical bills, without first speaking to a qualified attorney.
Our Undefeated Personal Injury Lawyers have won Billions for accident and wrongful death victims in Texas and throughout the United States and consistently recover Record-Breaking Verdicts and Settlements against the largest corporations in the world.
If you or a loved one were hurt or tragically killed due to the Travis Scott Astroworld crowd surge, please call 1-888-603-3636, use the Chat feature on this site, or Click Here to send us a Confidential Email through our Contact Form.
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