Travis Scott is facing the first of what could be many lawsuits related to the frightening incident at his Astroworld music festival that lead to eight deaths and hundreds of injuries. Manuel Souza, who was hurt during the crowd surge at the November 5 event held at NRG Park in Houston, Texas, filed a lawsuit against the 30-year-old rapper in Harris County District Court on Nov. 6, according to court documents obtained by HollywoodLife. Souza is suing Travis for $1 million and is also seeking a temporary restraining order from a judge to prevent destruction of evidence. Live Nation, ScoreMore, and Cactus Jack Records are also named in the lawsuit, which calls the Astroworld incident a “horrible — yet predictable and preventable — tragedy.”
In the docs, Souza claim he “suffered serious bodily injuries when the uncontrolled crowd at the concert knocked him to the ground and trampled him.” The lawsuit also states that dangerous incidents have occurred at Travis’ concerts in the past, such as at Lollapalooza in 2015, when the rapper encouraged fans to cross security barricades and rush onto the stage. “He and those who promoted and supported this concert must take responsibility for their heinous actions,” Houston personal injury firm, Kherkher Garcia LLP, said in a statement. “We intend to hold them fully accountable by showing that this behavior will not be tolerated in our great city.”
HollywoodLife reached out to reps for Travis and Live Nation for comment, but we haven’t heard back. The “SICKO MODE” singer was performing on stage during the show with surprise guest Drake when a a crowd stampede occurred in the audience of 50,000. The ensuing chaos left eight people dead and around 300 injured.
Travis addressed the incident in a short clip posted to Instagram on Nov. 7, where he clarified that he did not know about the situation during his performance. “I could just never imagine the severity of the situation…I’m honestly just devastated and I could never image anything like this just happening, he said. Travis also pledged to support local authorities investigating the disaster.
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner called for an investigation into the tragedy when he issued a statement on Nov. 6. Authorities also confirmed that a security guard was “pricked” by a needle and revived with Narcan at the event.