Thursday, November 18, 2021 9:36 amThursday, November 18, 202123 Comments

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Lawsuits continue to be filed in the aftermath of November’s deadly crowd surge at Astroworld Festival. Apple, Travis Scott, Drake, Live Nation and others associated with the event now face a new suit seeking hundreds of millions in damages. On Tuesday, Houston attorney Tony Buzbee filed a $750 million lawsuit against Apple. headliner Travis Scott, performer Drake, and concert promoter Live Nation on behalf of 125 concert-goers, including the family of 21-year-old victim Axel Acosta.

Astroworld Festival 2021 was originally scheduled for November 5–6, 2021. On the first night, a crowd crush occurred, resulting in multiple deaths and the cancellation of the second night of the festival.

Ariana Garcia for CHRON:

Acosta and nine others died following a deadly crowd surge at the concert on Nov. 5. On Sunday, 9-year-old Ezra Blount, became the youngest person to die from injuries sustained during the incident.

Buzbee’s suit, which also names Apple Music — which streamed the event — and Epic Records, alleges gross negligence and seeks damages for “the loss of mental and physical health, and human life.”

MacDailyNews Take: Buzbee shared a statement about this Astroworld lawsuit via Instagram:

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23 Comments

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1. Tommy Boy

   Thursday, November 18, 2021 at 9:48 am

   1. Still have the t- shirt that came out a few weeks later.
      “I’d Walk over YOU to see the WHO” foot print and all.

   2. TowerTone

      Thursday, November 18, 2021 at 12:00 pm

      Which is why I am wondering why laws were not passed to cover this type of venue.

      When a tragedy like Cincinnati happens you learn from it and apply the lesson.

      When a parallel like Houston happens you need to look further up the chain to see why it was allowed to happen…

      1. Not evening close to the same thing. One was a “Stampede”at the gate, the other is just Tards being Tards.

      2. WriterGuy

         Thursday, November 18, 2021 at 8:38 pm

         Big difference is that The Who did nothing to encourage the stampede. Travis Scott urges his fans to “rage,” and continued to do so even while the ambulances were driving through the crowds and fans were screaming at technicians to stop the show. He (or more likely his insurance company) will be paying out millions…

2. melgross

   Thursday, November 18, 2021 at 10:24 am

   How is Apple, who streamed the event responsible for the crowd? If anything, streaming it would have kept some people home to watch instead, resulting in fewer people there and less of a problem.

   Also, unless performers are directly involved in the physical work of setting up the event and security, I don’t see how it’s their problem either.

   While I feel sorry for the people injured and those who died, this does seem to be an over the top lawsuit designed to get as much money possible from as many entities as possible. Maybe lawyers shouldn’t get a third of what is won. How would they be entitled to $250 million? That’s why we see this,

   1. Synth

      Thursday, November 18, 2021 at 12:19 pm

      This is just normal procedure, sue anybody and everybody who had anything to do with the complaint, and then let courts sort it out. (But you especially include any party who actually has $$$!)

      The plaintiff doesn’t want the accused to say, “It’s not our fault, it’s (fill-in-the-blank) their fault.” And “fill-in-the-blank) is missing in the courtroom. Then you waste everyone’s time fetching “fill-in-the-blank) before the lawsuit can continue.

3. Thursday, November 18, 2021 at 11:05 am

   Apple deserves a huge judgment for its longtime support of rap music celebrating urban violence, rape of women, degradation of women, pornography and the very worst role models in the world. Apple should be ashamed, but it has no shame. So a court should just take its money away so it won’t be able to do this again.

   1. sherm66

      Thursday, November 18, 2021 at 11:34 am

      Remember the senate committee investigating so-called satanic or depravity issues contained in hard rock/metal in the 80s? Why does rap get a pass on much a worse concern IMO?

      1. Thursday, November 18, 2021 at 12:14 pm

         Rap advocates rape and degrades women in virtually every song. It glorifies violence all the time. Yet Apple loves it, subsidizes, champions it, rewards the degenerates who make it. All “does evil” all day long since Tim Cook took over.

      2. Fred McClain

         Thursday, November 18, 2021 at 1:16 pm

         Sherm…could it be that criticizing rap would be racially inflaming? I think so.

      3. WriterGuy

         Thursday, November 18, 2021 at 8:40 pm

         Those Senate hearings have long been viewed as a farce and an embarrassment for the politicians’ wives were led the condemnation at heavy metal music. No one wants to look that foolish again.

         1. sherm66

            Friday, November 19, 2021 at 11:30 am

            I completely agree. How can we ever forget Tipper Gore?

   2. You Don't Have to Be Clergy to Think IT

      Thursday, November 18, 2021 at 1:06 pm

      Kent’s statement about rap music and its “character,” is shocking to a culture that embraces rap, but using pure logic and comparing to what we cancel today, it speaks truth and brings relevant questions.

      While APPL’s culpability in this specific concert will be parsed by experts and the law, if one is truly honest, Apple confusingly advocates some things that are in stark contrast to some of its heralded ideals. This is true for every business (and human), but in great contrast, Apple DOES use its platform to signal how things should be…how people should think and act. Apple thinks they have the cultural code.

      Back to the specific, the majority of Rap is hardly consistent with Apple’s espoused ideals related to race, sex, equality, violence…but the co works hand-in-hand in supporting and making it culturally pedestrian.

4. "Concert"?

   Thursday, November 18, 2021 at 11:16 am

   I’ll be sure to take my nine year old to the next rap “concert” where they are yelling “f–king n—ger” non stop for two hours. Maybe my seven year old, as well

   1. Fesarius

      Thursday, November 18, 2021 at 1:38 pm

      I would hate to die over marginally (if at all) talented people on stage. Very few artists are worthy of that kind of adulation and Travis Scott – no freakin’ way. He’s only worthy of continuous nasty farts blowing in his general direction.

   2. Dirty Rotten Android Users

      Friday, November 19, 2021 at 7:20 am

      Wise move. Your kids will grow up to become excellent Android users.

5. Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, Aretha Franklin, Adele, Diana Ross, Mariah Carey, Dolly Parton all asking: “WTF is a Crowd Surge?”

   1. WriterGuy

      Thursday, November 18, 2021 at 9:01 pm

      Odd choice of artists to list — pretty sure Whitney Houston, Aretha and Diana Ross aren’t around to wonder about rowdy crowds. But especially the dead ones. That said, rap is hardly the only type of concert event at which individuals have been hurt or killed (including The Who).

      Here are some similar examples(note, the wide range of music represented here):

      December 2016; 36 people died at an electronic music party in the Ghost Ship fire, many trampled when trying to exit.
      July 2010; A stampede killed 21 people and injured more than 500 at a techno dance festival in Germany
      June 2000; A crowd surge in the mosh pit at a Pearl Jam concert left 9 dead and dozens injured in Denmark.
      December, 1979; The Who concert in Cincinnati left 11 dead and dozens injured when only a few doors were opened and the crowd surged.
      May 1977; 165 people died at a John Davidson concert when a fire broke out and the crowd panicked.
      May 1974; One teen died and 700 fans were injured when fans rushed the stage at an outdoor David Cassidy concert in West London.

      If you want a complete look at the carnage of human stampedes — and that’s basically what happened at AstroWorld — here’s a great Wikipedia article:
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_human_stampedes_and_crushes

      Whenever you have too many people pouring into a too small of a space, death is a possibility. Religious gatherings, soccer matches, concerts, funeral processions and Black Friday shopping sprees have all led to loss of lives. Blaming “rap music” is a knee-jerk (and, frankly, racist) reaction.

      1. Thursday, November 18, 2021 at 10:23 pm

         Liberals come up with the most absurd words. All the -ism’s, -ist’s and -phobia’s are largely imaginary and most of the name-calling is projection.

         If you get too specific conversing with a liberal, such as calling out rap culture for being degenerate, they accuse you of being one of their many ist/ism/phobia words.

         1. WriterGuy

            Friday, November 19, 2021 at 7:53 pm

            Yes, and right-wing politicians and their supporters NEVER name-call. As the former President famously said, “I’m sure there are wonderful people on both sides.”

            That this concert was rap music had NOTHING to do with the crush that killed 10 people. That is was poorly run — and they allowed fans to crash the gate and rush the stage — had EVERYTHING to do with it.

      2. See rap.

         Friday, November 19, 2021 at 7:21 am

         That’s ra(cis)p! Or rather, rap with a silent C.

6. Saturday, November 20, 2021 at 11:13 am

   So if it was live on TV you would sue CBS?

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