Travis Scott to pay for the funeral costs of 8 victims of Astroworld incident
File image of Travis Scott.
Rapper Travis Scott will cover the funeral costs for the eight victims who died during a stampede at his Astroworld Festival on Friday. The rapper's rep announced in a statement on Monday that Scott has offered to pay for the funeral costs.
The Houston-born artist will also partner with BetterHelp to provide free mental health services to all those affected by the tragedy.
“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," the statement reads.
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"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."
The organizers of Astroworld will also be providing a full refund to all ticketholders — both those who attended Friday and those who had tickets for Saturday’s cancelled events.
Scott took to social media over the weekend and wrote, "I’m absolutely devastated by what took place last night. My prayers go out to the families and all those impacted by what happened at Astroworld Festival."
Scott’s partner, Kylie Jenner, who was also in attendance at the festival, shared a statement expressing that both she and Scott did not know what was happening in the crowd during the performance.
"I want to make it clear we weren’t aware of any fatalities until the news came out after the show and in no world would have continued filming or performing," Jenner wrote.
The youngest killed at Travis Scott's Astroworld concert was just 14 years old
The victims were crushed in a surge of fans near the stage at NRG Park at around 9:30 p.m., with some unable to breathe and others trampled underfoot. Hundreds of others in the sellout crowd of 50,000 were injured.
Fans described a chaotic scene after a steady escalation of disruptive behaviour throughout the day.
The eight victims ranged in age from 14 to 27 and included an avid high school baseball player, a high school band member who loved to dance and several college students from around the country.
Though he paused the music multiple times after spotting fans who needed medical attention, Scott completed his set. The show continued for 37 minutes after officials declared a "mass casualty event," according to a Houston Chronicle timeline.
