Travis Scott will refund Astroworld attendees and won’t perform at this weekend’s Day N Vegas Festival, which he had been set to headline, sources close to the rapper said.
Scott, who is listed as the headliner Saturday during the three-day festival at the Las Vegas Festival Grounds, is “too distraught” to play after eight people died and dozens more were injured at his Astroworld festival Friday.
Scott said Monday that he would cover all funeral costs for the victims and that he had partnered with BetterHelp to supply free one-on-one online therapy for those affected by the tragedy.
“These are the first of many steps Travis plans on taking as a part of his personal vow to assist those affected throughout their grieving and recovery process,” representatives for Scott said in a statement.
The chaos at the Houston festival began shortly after 9 p.m. local time when the massive crowd “began to compress toward the front of the stage,” officials have said.
Houston Police Chief Troy Finner said Saturday afternoon that a few people started “going down” at 9:30 p.m. He said that officials told producers what was happening and that the show ended at about 10:10 p.m.
The police department is conducting a criminal investigation with the involvement of the homicide and narcotics divisions, Finner said.
Scott said in an Instagram story posted on his account Saturday: “I’m honestly just devastated. I could never imagine anything like this just happening.”
Lawsuits that have been filed against Scott and organizers note his history of encouraging fans to rush the stage and ignore security guards and allege that he and organizers didn't stop the show when the crowd got out of control.
Kylie Jenner, who is pregnant with her second child with Scott, has said in a statement that she and Scott were unaware of what was happening until after the show.
“I want to make it clear we weren’t aware of any fatalities until the news came out after the show and in no world would have continued filming or performing,” she wrote early Sunday on Instagram.
