Right as the resurgence of live concerts has begun, tragedy struck. On Nov. 7, the Astroworld concert in Houston, Texas, hosted by rapper Travis Scott left at least 10 people dead and dozens more injured. Hundreds of concertgoers took to social media to recount their experiences, with many calling it a “concert from hell”. Like most people, I got to know about the tragedy through Twitter and watched live footage of hundreds of people appearing miserable, barely able to move in the densely packed mosh pit.

The whole situation felt apocalyptic and uneasy, with concertgoers on the verge of fainting from suffocation as music boomed in the background. After outrage about the event spread on social media, Scott posted an Instagram story the next morning in which he expressed his “grief” about the deaths with his fans. Scott also said that he did not know of any fatalities until the morning after the concert. The transparent laziness and insincerity of his response topped with the incessant rubbing of his forehead as he talked was honestly really disingenuous, and Twitter did not hold back on their mockery of his apology.

To be fair, some fans did show their support for Scott, defending his claim that he was not aware of the chaos unfolding as he was performing. They also said that there is a lot we do not know about the situation and a thorough investigation should be done before playing the blame game. But the further we get from that event, the more it becomes evidence that Astroworld was an act of pure negligence.

 According to CNN, the concert began at 9 p.m. Disturbing footage showed ambulances swarming through the crowd, and paramedics performing CPR while Scott continued to perform. There was an instant where Scott stopped mid-performance as one ambulance was making its way through the crowd. After he resumed the performance, fans began screaming “stop the show” during set breaks, cries of desperation that went unheard. By 9:40, police officers declared Astroworld as a mass casualty event. Scott, however, continued his set until 10:15 p.m. 

Not only was this event completely irresponsible on the part of the organizers to compact 50,000 people into the venue, but Scott himself is just as responsible. Travis Scott is the allure— the crowds were constantly surging in order to get closer to him. He has command over the audience. You do not need to possess high spatial awareness in order to see how much anguish the audience was in. Scott is well aware of his power; he infamously stopped a concert in 2015 after a concert goer stole his shoe while performing. Astroworld was not some unforeseeable tragedy. It could have been easily preventable by thoroughness of the organizers and swift action from Scott.

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