Travis Scott attended Drake’s Astroworld afterparty “unaware” of tragedy
Festival staff, who were allegedly untrained, were told to call dead fans “smurfs”
New details of Friday night’s Astroworld tragedy have been revealed, with reports that Travis Scott attended Drake’s afterparty following the event “unaware” of the severity of the incident.
Eight fans died on Friday, November 5, in a crowd crush at the rapper’s 50,000 person festival. Scott claims that he didn’t know what was happening at the time.
“Travis didn’t know the severity of the situation when he arrived at the party, as far as timing, this remains consistent with the fact that no one including the police had publicly confirmed the gravity of the events that had taken place,” a source told TMZ yesterday.
Further reports have revealed that staff at the event were allegedly untrained for crowd control, with one stating: “I didn’t feel prepared” following the incident. Jackson Bush, a first-time SIA guard, told News Nation: “I didn’t even show my ID”.
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“[Fans] were tight. Half the people we tried to pull out, we couldn’t get them. I literally seen this guy take his last breath,” he told a reporter. “I’ve never been in the heat of the moment, I’ve never seen death,” he said.
Bush was reportedly stationed at the front of the stage despite having never worked as security before, after being hired on the spot by festival organisers.
CNN reported that staff were also asked to call potential dead fans “smurfs” after witnesses described concertgoers “turning black and blue”.
In Astroworld’s 56-page Event Operations Plan obtained by CNN, it asks that staff “never use the term 'dead' or 'deceased' over the radio”, instead insisting they call fans “smurfs”.
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Houston Fire Chief, Samuel Pena, gave a statement following Friday’s tragedy after getting “some picture” of the incident the occurred.
“What was happening is the barricades that were placed in to prevent that surge towards the stage, in essence, caused other areas of pinch points,” he said. “Everybody at that event had a responsibility, starting from the artist on down. The artist has command of that crowd.
“If [the artist] notices something that’s going on, he can certainly pause that performance, turn on the lights and say, ‘Hey we’re not going to continue until this thing is resolved’,” he continued, adding: “I’m not prepared to say he was fully aware of what was going on.”
Gemma Ross is Mixmag's Digital Intern, follow her on Twitter