Travis Scott and his partner Kylie Jenner both said they were “devastated” to learn that at least eight people, including teenagers, died during a chaotic crowd surge toward a stage where the rapper was performing at Friday’s Astroworld Festival in Houston.
Jenner, the cosmetics mogul and reality TV star, said the pair were not aware of any fatalities until after the show.
A video reconstruction by The Washington Post shows Scott’s concert continued despite desperate pleas for help from the crowd, stopping roughly an hour after concertgoers were visibly in distress, with some yelling for help and trying to get officials to stop the show. Attendees described the chaos like “hell” and “partying in a graveyard” as the music played on and the Apple Music live stream continued.
Officials are investigating how the sold-out music festival turned deadly.
Videos show Travis Scott’s Astroworld concert continued despite desperate pleas for help from the crowdJenner, 24, who is pregnant with the couple’s second child, wrote on her Instagram story early Sunday Eastern time, that the pair were “broken and devastated” by the loss of life and that they were praying for those “injured or affected.”
Jenner said she wanted to make it “clear” they were unaware “of any fatalities until the news came out after the show.” Jenner wrote that “filming” and “performing” would not have continued if they were fully aware of the scale of chaos unfolding among the 50,000-person crowd.
Jenner was criticized on social media for posting video footage from the concert on her Instagram — that also featured an ambulance attempting to navigate its way through the crowd to assist those in need of emergency care.
A street sign showing the cancellation of the AstroWorld Festival at NRG Park on November 6, 2021 in Houston, Texas.Eight dead, including teens, after a crowd surge at Travis Scott’s Astroworld FestivalScott tweeted he was “absolutely devastated by what took place.” Also posting to his own Instagram story Saturday night, Scott told followers that he was working to “assist the families through this tough time.”
Scott, who appeared distressed as he rubbed his head and closed his eyes repeatedly, said, “My fans really mean the world to me and I always want to leave them with a positive experience.” He appealed to those who attended the concert to share any information they had with authorities.
In a news conference following the concert that announced the fatalities, Houston Fire Chief Samuel Peña said Saturday that the crowd surge appeared to worsen at around 9 p.m. ET on Friday.
“The crowd began to compress towards the front of the stage and that caused some panic and it started causing some injuries,” he said. “People began to fall out, become unconscious and it created additional, additional panic.”
