Astroworld is a music festival inaugurated in 2018 in Houston and founded by musical artist Travis Scott. This year was supposed to be the biggest thus far -- it expanded from one day to two days and 100,000 tickets sold out in 30 minutes. While the majority of the line-up was hip-hop artists, it also incorporated R&B artists like SZA and Earth, Wind, & Fire.
On Friday, the first night of the event, tragedy struck when 8 people were killed, and many others injured when the crowd surged during Travis Scott’s performance. During his performance when he noticed the panic, he halted the show, while not knowing the extent of the injuries. Since then, he has committed to refund everyone’s ticket purchase, pay for the funerals of the deceased, and partnered with an online mental health service to offer a month of free therapy to survivors and other affected. While Scott didn’t incite the crowd to rush the stage and is trying to do everything he can to help in this devastating situation, he is being blamed and lawsuits are already being filed against him.
I couldn’t help but think, why is Scott being blamed for the tragic event at Astroworld yet Donald Trump is not being held accountable for the January 6th insurrection on the Capitol building. Trump fanned the flames of his followers with dog whistles, fearmongering, and lies at a rally moments before the attack, where he told those gathered to “fight like hell”. It’s also been reported President Trump watched the insurrection on TV in the White House and did nothing while police officers were beaten and 5 people lost their lives. I guess it’s different strokes for different folks based on their privilege, wealth, skin color, and influence.
