Rapper Travis Scott said Monday he’ll cover the funeral costs of the eight people who died in the crowd Friday night during his performance at the Astroworld Festival in Houston.
The eight victims, ranging in age from 14 to 27, were in the tightly packed crowd of 50,000 that violently surged. Another 25 people were hospitalized, including a 10-year-old who is said to be in critical condition.
Scott, who previously said he was “devastated” by what happened at the festival he planned, also has partnered with the therapy platform BetterHelp to offer a month of free therapy to Astroworld attendees.
Those in the crowd described a highly traumatizing event where people were packed so tightly they couldn’t breathe and pleas for help went unheeded.
“This was not a concert, this was a fight for survival,” concertgoer Jeffrey Schmidt told CNN.
“I witnessed multiple people unconscious and unable to breathe, as people under me were crying for my help. But I physically could not help. That is what traumatized me the most, that I could not help the people around me,” he said.
Attendees have already started filing lawsuits against Scott and the event’s organizer, Live Nation, for failing to provide adequate safeguards.
The show wasn’t halted until at least 30 minutes after emergency responders declared a “mass casualty” incident. Houston Fire Chief Samuel Peña said some of the blame undoubtedly falls on Scott for failing to react.
“The one person who can really call for and get a tactical pause when something goes wrong is that performer,” Peña told The New York Times. “They have that bully pulpit and they have a responsibility.”
