On Nov. 5, Travis Scott held his Astroworld Festival. What was supposed to be a fun and entertaining concert quickly turned into a deadly, horrid show where more than 50,000 fans stormed the arena to see the performance.
Trapped with nowhere to run, fans trampled over each other and struggled for air. Many passed out while 10 fans died as of Nov. 17 and hundreds are now in the hospital with life-threatening injuries. Despite concertgoer’s cries and screams for Scott to stop performing, he continued to perform for at least a half an hour after officials declared the event a mass casualty according to many sources, including Rolling Stone.
The nation, now left horrified, demands a response from the rapper and crew of how and why this tragedy occurred. Families who were directly affected are suing the rapper and millions are boycotting Scott’s brand and music. Many have been protesting for more to be done by the rapper and staff involved.
This argument is prevalent at our very own University of Maryland. From students spreading awareness of this situation to others protesting and boycotting Scott’s brand and music, there has been a big discussion on how more can be done.
When this travesty occurred, many students used social media as a tool to express their outrage and reposted videos to spread awareness of what happened.
An upset freshman from the University of Maryland named Diana DeRosa reported, “I used my Instagram by taking videos that I saw and posted them to my story to spread awareness. To let people know what was going on because at first no one had the whole picture.”
Another freshman, Rachel Fredman mentioned, “when I found out I was in disbelief that this one could happen at a concert and that he also continued to perform, is horrible.”
She went on to talk about her own experiences at concerts and how she thinks changes need to be made to avoid these situations in the future.
“There should be put in place safety precautions at concerts and more security guards, and the artist needs to be penalized to financially compensate the families who suffered from the losses, but sadly there is no equal way he can pay for it,” Fredman said.
After the event, many conspiracies started to arise. Many sources came out allegedly questioning if Scott knew he sold too many tickets to fit the stadium. According to a NY Times article, Houston police chief Troy Finner went to Travis Scott in his trailer before the concert started, to express “concerns about the energy in the crowd.”
Olivia Kiley, a freshman at UMD said she felt like the chaos at the concert was planned. When asked to elaborate, she answered, “I mean, the way that they sold so many tickets, knowing that there were too many people there. The way that Travis Scott allegedly saw people being carried out and didn’t stop the show. It might not have been planned. But just if it wasn’t planned, it just seemed extremely wrong and someone should have done something.”
Kiley went on to address how the people were screaming for help and the videos she saw of the crew doing nothing to help.
There are so many voices and opinions from our strong UMD students. This tragedy has struck and hurt us all. As we rebuild and grow from this horrible situation, we must remember the lives we lost and use our voices and strength to make sure this never happens again, just like our fellow students who are already voicing their opinions and spreading awareness of this tragedy.