This article was written by Vidette Staff Writer Presleigh Grove.

Astroworld is an annual music festival run by the acclaimed artist, Travis Scott. This festival was seemingly very successful considering Travis Scott’s tour grossed $34.3 million dollars in 3 months and hundreds of thousands of tickets were sold. 

The first ever Astroworld festival took place in 2018, it was described as nostalgic and “a celebration of Houston,” according to hypebeast. During the 2019 festival 3 people were trampled and hospitalized. In 2020, Astroworld was a virtual Fortnite event due to COVID. You would think that after the events that took place in the 2019 festival, Travis Scott and his team would work on improving their event so that all of his fans could be safe. But no, in 2021 ten people died and 125 were injured during his festival in Houston. As a result, Travis Scott, Drake and Live Nation are being sued for a total of 2 billion dollars in damages.

Due to the controversy surrounding who is at fault for this event, I interviewed eight McCaskey students. An 11th grade student by the name of  Brianna Dobbs stated, “I am really disappointed… people should be able to go to concerts without the fear of losing their lives.” She explained that she believed that it wasn’t completely Scott and his team’s fault. She said, “Do I think it’s their fault? No. But, do I think that there could’ve been stuff that they could’ve done to prevent more people from dying? Yes.”

Ada Kessler, a freshman at McCaskey said, “I believe Travis Scott is the most responsible… I think he should’ve stopped the show to check on his fans. So many other artists do it; he should have as well, especially considering the crowd size.” She thinks that “if the concert had been less booked and more spread out it [the deaths] could’ve been prevented or at least lessened.” 

Lastly, Diovanni Caraballo-Cruz stated, “I think Travis and his team are at fault for not stopping the show and encouraging the behavior on social media.” Cruz was referencing a tweet made by Travis Scott May, 5th, 2021. Scott tweeted “NAW AND WE STILL SNEAKING THE WILD ONES IN. !!!!!” This tweet is being used in the lawsuit against him by Manuel Suza, one of the 115 victims. According to Souza’s lawsuit, the tweet “recklessly encouraged fans to breach the barriers and otherwise actively encouraged a culture of violence.”

What do I think? I believe that some of the concertgoers need to take accountability for the part they played in the deaths. When interviewing Kessler, she stated, “I do think it’s interesting that people were literally willing to trample someone to death just to get closer even if that wasn’t their intention.” I couldn’t agree more. I had many conversations with people who have attended a variety of different concerts. From rock, to rap, to R&B, not one of them had an experience like the people who attended Astroworld. The thought of injuring someone just to get close to the performer(s) never crossed their mind.

You could say that his tweet incited violence but I don’t think that’s fair. In my opinion it’s the same logic as blaming video games for mass shootings. At the end of the day, the people who murdered and trampled over others choose to do that.

Travis’s team planned the event, they are the reason why over 55,000 people were at the concert. They need to be held accountable as well. Even though Scott didn’t plan it, he’s the face of the festival. Knowing that 3 people were hospitalized in 2019, he should’ve made it a priority to ensure the safety of the concertgoers.