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A lawsuit against Travis Scott compared him to a violinist on the Titanic who 'played while the ship sank around him' because he kept performing at Astroworld

Nov 11, 2021, 00:14 IST
Insider
Travis Scott performing at the Astroworld festival. Erika Goldring/Getty Images
  • A lawsuit against Travis Scott compares him to "the violinist on the Titanic who played while the ship sank around him."
  • Scott played for 37 minutes after police were called to the "mass casualty event" at Astroworld.
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A lawsuit filed against Travis Scott compared him to the violinist on the Titanic, who continued to perform his music as the ship sank in 1912, drowning thousands of people.

"Like the violinist on the Titanic who played while the ship sank around him, Travis Scott, for 37 minutes after Houston police and firefighters were called to a 'mass casualty event,' continued to perform," the lawsuit says.

Wallace Hartley, the real-life violinist and bandleader on the Titanic, led the band in a performance as the ship sank into the Atlantic Ocean. Scott continued to play his set after the crowd surge that killed eight people and injured hundreds of others at the rapper's Astroworld festival on Friday.

The lawsuit, filed Monday, names Scott - whose real name is Jacques Berman Webster II - as a defendant, along with Live Nation and other entities that worked on the Astroworld festival. It was brought on behalf of five plaintiffs who say they were injured at the concert.

The lawsuit points out that Scott has a history of reckless behavior at concerts. He was arrested on disorderly conduct charges in Chicago in 2015 after telling fans to rush past the stage barriers and was taken into custody in 2017 in Arkansas following a similar incident. He pleaded guilty in both those cases.

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Also in 2017, a fan was paralyzed after being pushed from a balcony "by a frenzied crowd" at a Scott concert, the lawsuit alleges.

Scott appeared to ignore the advice of two members of his entourage who approached him onstage, and instead told the crowd to make "the ground shake," according to the lawsuit.

"Despite the hellscape surrounding him, visible from his position onstage, Mr. Scott ignored cries for help from concertgoers and desperate pleas from his own fans," the lawsuit alleges.

The lawsuit is one of more than 30 filed in Harris County District Court against Scott, Live Nation, and other entities that organized the Astroworld festival. They've been brought on behalf of people who were killed or injured on Friday, and ask for monetary damages as well as restraining orders.

A security planning document prepared by Scoremore, one of the companies named as a defendant in a number of the lawsuits, shows that the festival had plans for bomb threats but not crowd rushes, which are common at Scott's concerts.

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Representatives for Scott, Live Nation, and Scoremore didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

In a previous statement to Insider's Natalie Musumeci, Live Nation said: "We continue to support and assist local authorities in their ongoing investigation so that both the fans who attended and their families can get the answers they want and deserve, and we will address all legal matters at the appropriate time."

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