As the legal aftermath of the deadly 2021 Astroworld Festival continues to unfold, attorneys representing victims are pushing to keep rapper Travis Scott as a defendant in the civil lawsuit, citing his central role in the event's organization while Scott's legal team is vying for his dismissal, asserting he's not liable for the planning and security mishaps that led to tragedy. During a court hearing in Harris County, Noah Wexler, attorney for the plaintiffs, argued, "This event was Travis Scott’s festival and it was crafted through his tour agreement with Live Nation," as reported by the Houston Chronicle.
However, Scott's legal counsel pushed back, saying the rapper, primarily an artist, stopped the show four times upon noticing issues in the crowd but was unaware of the larger danger until after the concert ended; Stephen Brody, attorney for Scott, insisted that "he did what he does at all of his performances" according to the Bay News 9. The ongoing debate over Scott's responsibility in the chaos that killed 10 and injured many revolves around two points — the prep for the festival flagged safety concerns, and the delay in action once the peril became evident was too slow.
Judge Kristen Hawkins of the Harris County District Court has not yet reached a decision regarding Scott's involvement amidst attorneys’ fierce arguments and with the first trial related to the concert debacle is set to begin in three weeks. Meanwhile, Apple Inc., and several other companies involved in the festival, also sought dismissal, with Apple's lawyer arguing the company's streaming of the event did not equate to a liability for ensuring the event's safety or rescuing concert-goers from harm, as the Houston Chronicle detailed.
Amidst the deliberations, Hawkins assigned a special master, retired state appeals court judge Terry Jennings to oversee aspects of evidence discovery particularly, around 17 terabytes of data collected by the Houston Police Department with defendants arguing the data should be returned to them as opposed to the victims’ attorneys perusing it, as the Houston Chronicle outlined. Additionally, Wexler told the judge he is still after data from Scott's cell phone which he claims was lost in the ocean, the plaintiffs’ team is yet to receive all the information they seek even though Scott's attorney said all "responsive data" has indeed been produced.
