Travis Scott Will Cover Funeral Costs for Astroworld Victims

Travis Scott will pay for the funerals of the eight fans who died while attending his Astroworld Festival on Friday night.

On Monday (Nov. 8), the city of Houston revealed the names of all eight victims from what local law enforcement are calling a “mass casualty” incident on Friday night: Mirza Baig, Rodolfo Peña, Madison Dubiski, Franco Patino, Jacob Jurinke, John Hilgert, Axel Acosta Avila and Brianna Rodriguez. The eight victims, who ranged in ages 14 to 27, died as the crowd reportedly surged toward the stage during Scott’s headlining set, which caused utter chaos and also left 300 injured.

The 30-year-old rapper and his Cactus Jack Foundation will also partner with BetterHelp, an online portal providing direct mental health support, to offer free one-on-one virtual therapy sessions with a licensed therapist for anyone affected in the wake of the tragedy. Anyone interested in the free therapy services can sign up here. He will also work with the National Alliance of Mental Illness, Mental Health America National and MHA of Greater Houston for those in need of mental health services. BetterHelp will also direct individuals in immediate need to NAMI, which has a dedicated national hotline that is available Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. ET and can be reached at (800) 950-NAMI.

“Travis remains in active conversations with the city of Houston, law enforcement and local first responders to respectfully and appropriately connect with the individuals and families of those involved,” reads a statement from Scott’s camp. “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.

GoFundMe pages for some of the victims, including Peña and Rodriguez, arose over the weekend to cover funeral costs, which will now be taken care of by Scott. Roddy Ricch, who also performed at Astroworld on Friday, announced that he would donate his performance earnings to the families of victims.

ScoreMore Shows, which helped produce the festival in Houston alongside Live Nation, issued a statement Monday that they separately plan to provide mental health counseling and will set up a health fund to help with medical costs from the incident. The organization also announced that they will be issuing full refunds to all Astroworld attendees and “working on ways to support the attendees, the families of victims, and staff.”

Scott, Live Nation and ScoreMore have been named in some 14 lawsuits in connection to the fatal festival, including one from an injured concertgoer who described Astroworld as a “predictable and preventable tragedy” and accused the “Sicko Mode” MC of having “actively encouraged and fomented dangerous behaviors.”

On Saturday, Scott released separate written and video statements expressing how “absolutely devastated” he is with what happened at his third annual Astroworld Festival and later revealing that he and his team are “working right now to identify the families so we can help assist them through this tough time.”

Link to the source article – https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/hip-hop/9656911/travis-scott-funeral-costs-astroworld-victims/

Recommended for you